India, Russia Reaffirm Commitment to Enhance Defence Ties Amid Trump Threat

By R Anil Kumar

Moscow/ Washington/ New Delhi. India and Russia on August 5, reaffirmed their commitment to boost bilateral defence cooperation during a meeting between Indian Ambassador Vinay Kumar and Russia’s Deputy Defence Minister Colonel-General Alexander Fomin.

According to a statement by the Russian Ministry of Defence, the Indian envoy called on Col-Gen Fomin, who is in charge of international defence cooperation, and the meeting was held in a “warm and friendly atmosphere, customary for Russian-Indian ties”.

“During the conversation, the sides discussed in detail the pertinent issues of bilateral interaction in the sphere of defence and confirmed their intent toward the further strengthening of relevant cooperation in the spirit of particularly privileged strategic partnership,” said the statement.

The meeting took place amid US President Donald Trump’s threats to slap harsh sanctions on India for buying crude oil from Russia.

‘Never said a percentage’: Trump on tariffs over buying from Russia after India’s response to ‘penalty’ threat

US president’s statement comes days after he targeted India for buying oil and arms from Russia; he has imposed 25% tariffs on India, trade deal talks are on.

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday, August 5, said that he never specified the exact rate of tariffs he would impose on countries doing business with Russia.

US President Donald Trump responded to a question on tariffs for countries buying Russian energy. (Bloomberg)

“I never said a percentage, but we’ll be doing quite a bit of that. We’ll see what happens over the next fairly short period of time. But we will see what happens…”, Trump said during a press conference.

This comes just days after he targeted India for buying oil and arms from Russia, and for being the country’s “largest buyer of energy”. He has imposed 25% tariffs on India and threatened more.

On August 5, though, he said that there’s a meeting scheduled with Russian officials on Wednesday, August 6, following which a decision on secondary sanctions would be made.

The Republican leader was responding specifically to a question on whether he would come through on his threat to impose “100% tariffs” on countries buying Russian energy. These countries include India and China.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to travel to Russia for meetings this week with officials there.

Last month, Trump had threatened 100 per cent tariffs on Russia, and “secondary tariffs” on countries buying oil from the country if Moscow did not agree to a peace agreement with Ukraine in 50 days.

“We’re very, very unhappy with them. And we’re going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don’t have a deal in 50 days. Tariffs at about 100 per cent, you’d call them secondary tariffs,” Trump had said.

Weeks later and just days before his August 1 reciprocal tariffs deadline, Trump announced 25 per cent tariffs on Indian imports, threatening penalties for doing business with Russia. However, there was no clarification on what the penalties would be.

On India citing US trade with Russia

New Delhi has cited the United States’ trade with Moscow — significant imports like uranium hexafluoride, fertilisers and chemicals — and said the US and EU were unfair in targeting India over its oil imports from Russia.

Reacting to India’s argument, Trump said, “I don’t know anything about it, I’d have to check, but we’ll get back to you on that.”

Even as Trump’s tariff threats loom, India and Russia have reaffirmed their commitment to boost bilateral defence cooperation.

After Trump imposed 25 per cent tariffs on India, New Delhi released a statement backing its energy trade with Russia. India argued that it began importing from Russia because traditional supplies were diverted to Europe after the Russia-Ukraine conflict began.

“The United States at that time actively encouraged such imports by India for strengthening global energy markets stability,” the foreign ministry said.

India is a key energy partner for Russia, becoming the buyer of oil worth $50.2 billion in 2024-25, according to Reports.

The president’s latest threat, in brief remarks, came hours after India mounted its strongest defence yet of Russian energy ties, with external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal on Monday August 4, calling American tariff threats “unjustified and unreasonable.”

“Like any major economy, India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security,” Jaiswal said, defending India’s Russian energy imports as essential for affordable energy costs.

Russia backed India’s right to choose its trading partners, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying sovereign countries have the right to select partners in trade and economic cooperation based on their interests.

“We believe that sovereign countries must have and do have the right to choose their trade partners, the partners in trade and economic cooperation, on their own and independently determine those modes of trade and economic cooperation that suit the interests of a country in question,” Peskov told journalists, commenting on the US threats regarding India.

Trump’s threat comes just a day after the American leader criticised India for making large profits from refining and selling Russian oil on global markets.

On July 30, Trump announced a 25% tariff on Indian goods, while citing New Delhi’s purchases of Russian energy and military equipment as irritants in the bilateral relationship.

Later,on July 31, Trump termed India and Russia “dead economies” in a post on Truth Social. Following the president’s statements, key administration officials, such as secretary of state Marco Rubio and treasury secretary Scott Bessent have also made statements criticising Indian energy purchases from Russia.

According to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, India bought 38% of all Russian crude oil exports in June, behind only China. CREA also estimated that India purchased 49 billion euros—roughly $56 billion—worth of Russian fossil fuels in 2024.

The 24-hour ultimatum threatens to derail trade negotiations scheduled to begin August 25 in New Delhi, with both countries having described the talks as making substantial progress toward a breakthrough agreement.

To India’s surprise, President Trump’s position on Russia has moved considerably since his 2024 election campaign.

“India has made reasonable defences of its oil and arms imports, but this will certainly make a trade deal harder and further complicate US-India strategic partnership. That said, there is a plausible path out of this since oil imports from Russia are not as politically salient for the Modi government as agriculture protections, and India has previously cooperated with the last Trump administration on oil imports, specifically from Iran.”

The president’s new tariff threat creates immediate uncertainty for Indian exporters already grappling with the 25% tariff that is set to take effect on August 7, while potentially forcing New Delhi to choose between energy security and trade relations with its largest export market.

India exported $86.5 billion worth of goods to the US in fiscal 2025, creating a $41 billion trade surplus that has become a persistent irritant in bilateral relations. However, industry experts estimate that 45-50% of Indian goods may avoid additional tariffs due to existing exemptions for electronics, pharmaceuticals, and energy products.