Putin Hits Back At US pressure On Russian Oil Trade: 'India, China Won't Accept Humiliation'

Last Updated:October 03, 2025, 00:28 IST

Russian President Vladimir Putin said if India stopped buying Russian energy, it would face losses estimated between $9 billion and $10 billion

Russian President Vladimir Putin said if India stopped buying Russian energy, it would face losses estimated between $9 billion and $10 billion. (AP photo)

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday slammed the US’s move to pressure India and China into cutting back energy cooperation with Moscow, warning that such actions would harm the global economy and backfire on Washington.

Speaking at the Valdai Discussion Group in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Putin warned that if higher tariffs were imposed on Russia’s trade partners, it would drive up global energy prices and force the US Federal Reserve to keep interest rates high which would slow down the US economy, India Today reported.

“India will never allow itself to be humiliated," Putin said, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would never take such as step.

India Today quoted the Russian President as saying that if India stopped buying Russian energy, it would face losses estimated between $9 billion and $10 billion. “If not, high duties will be imposed on them. And once again, damage will be there. Well, the same amount of damage. And why then? Why then decline to buy Russian energy to actually sustain political risks?" Putin asked.

Pointing out that such decisions were “pointless" from an economic perspective, the President said that Indians would ultimately reject any move to give up Russian oil purchases under foreign pressure.

He added: “Russia is grateful to countries like India and China who founded the BRICS. These are nations that refuse to take sides and aspire to truly create a just world."

Previously, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that US now understands that “pressure tactics" like threatening nations with tariffs do not work against “ancient civilisations" like India and China.

“Both China and India are ancient civilisations. And talking to them like ‘either you stop doing what I don’t like or I’ll impose tariffs on you’ won’t work. And the ongoing contacts between Beijing and Washington, between New Delhi and Washington, show that the American side understands it, too," Lavrov said while speaking on Russia’s main Channel 1 TV programme, The Great Game.

This came shortly after US President Donald Trump and members of his administration appeared to have toned down their rhetoric against India, tariffs imposed by the Trump administration and trade with India.

Earlier this year, as members of his administration labelled India the “Maharaja of Tariffs," President Donald Trump doubled down with higher tariff rates, accusing New Delhi of funding the Ukraine war and penalising it for buying Russian crude.

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