US Secretary of State Marco Rubio calls India 'strategic partner', but flays Russian oil buys

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that India’s purchase of a significant portion of its crude oil from Russia is one of the key irritants in the India-US relationship, as Russia is using the revenue from India’s oil purchases to fund its war efforts in Ukraine. His comments come a day after US President Donald Trump slapped a 25 per cent tariff on all goods from India and an unspecified penalty for buying Russian oil and weapons.

‘India a strategic partner’

Speaking to Fox Radio on Thursday (July 31), Rubio termed India as an “ally” in global trade and a “strategic partner”. He said that in foreign policy, two countries could not agree on every issue.

Rubio said that India has huge energy needs and the ability to buy oil to keep its economy running. He said that India was buying oil from Russia because it’s sanctioned and cheap. Due to the sanctions, Rubio said, Russia, in many cases, was selling oil at a lower rate than the global price.

“Look, global trade – India is an ally. It’s a strategic partner. Like anything in foreign policy, you’re not going to align a hundred per cent of the time on everything,” he said.

Also Read: Trump imposes new reciprocal tariffs on over 70 nations; Syria, Canada, Brazil face steep taxes

‘Trump’s frustration’

“India has huge energy needs and that includes the ability to buy oil and coal and gas and things that it needs to power its economy like every country does, and it buys it from Russia, because Russian oil is sanctioned and cheap and – meaning they have to – in many cases, they’re selling it under the global price because of the sanctions,” he added as quoted by Fox Radio.

In an apparent reference to Trump’s “dead economies” outburst against India and Russia, Rubio said that it was likely an expression of frustration that, despite so many options being available, India keeps buying oil from Russia, which in turn uses the funds to continue its war in Ukraine.

“So it is most certainly a point of irritation in our relationship with India – not the only point of irritation. We also have many other points of cooperation with them,” said Rubio.

“But I think what you’re seeing the President express is the very clear frustration that with so many other oil vendors available, India continues to buy so much from Russia, which in essence is helping to fund the war effort,” he added.

Also Read: Trump slams India-Russia ties; says 'they can take their dead economies down together'

Indian refineries pause buying Russian oil

Meanwhile, Indian state refineries- Indian Oil Corp (IOC.NS), Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL.NS), Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL.NS), and Mangalore Refinery Petrochemical Ltd (MRPL.NS) - have not bought Russian crude oil in the past week, reported Reuters.

The report said that the four refineries used to regularly buy Russian crude oil, adding that they have now turned to spot markets for replacement supply like Abu Dhabi's Murban crude and West African oil, sources said.