Amid growing "bullying" by the US over India's trade with Russia, New Delhi is finding broad support from the Western intelligentsia. The Trump administration's
crackdown on travel, business, and student visas - a move which affects Indians disproportionately because of the volume of traffic between the two countries - has also come under criticism with regional experts pointing out that it may torch Indo-US ties cultivated over past 25 years. "The conflict in Ukraine is Putin's war, not 'Modi's war' and anyone who thinks this patently ridiculous formulation is going to provide leverage with New Delhi is beyond delusional," Evan Feigenbaum, a former state department official, said on Wednesday, referring to White House trade adviser Peter Navarro's characterisation that the Russia-Ukraine conflict is "Modi's war". "At this point, this is sabotage, pure and simple," said Feigenbaum, according to Times of India report. The comments made from "some people on the US side are arsonists", he said, adding that they are deliberately "torching 25 years of work to build US-India relations". Feigenbaum is among a slate of officials who had piloted the US-India nuclear deal. A noted publication warned that Trump's wrecking of ties with India and his embrace of Pakistan is "a giant own-goal for America's interests that compounds its neglect of Nato in Europe". The Economist also calling out American duplicity over India's purchase of oil from Russia. Commenting on the issue, it said that while the issue is "grubby", New Delhi follows a price-cap scheme run by the West, and Trump, by singling out India for special punishment - even as much of the world, including China, also buys Russian oil - was a "grave mistake". "For India it is a moment of opportunity: a defining test of its claim to be a superpower-in-waiting," the Economist said, supporting New Delhi's China outreach and its quest for new markets, while encouraging reforms at home, it said. Several American analysts also criticised Trump's approach saying the US is simply shooting itself in the foot with its belligerence towards India. "India will sell its exports no longer to the US but to rest of the BRICS. What you are doing is, in a hothouse fashion, developing Brics into an ever-larger, more integrated and successful economic alternative to the West," Richard Wolfe, a leftist economist, warned in a podcast. India Doubles Down With Higher Russian Imports Despite pressure from Washington, India is set to raise its imports of Russian oil in September, if a Reuters report is to be believed. As per the Reuters report, Indian refiners are expected to increase purchases by 10–20% from August levels, or around 150,000–300,000 barrels per day, according to preliminary trade data.
Since Western sanctions limited Russia's access to many markets following its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, India has emerged as one of the largest buyers of Russian crude. This has enabled Indian refiners to secure cheaper supplies, with mid-2024 imports averaging around 1.5–1.6 million barrels per day, meeting nearly 40% of the country’s crude needs.
