US Treasury Secretary: India Profiting From Russian Oil Purchases Is Unacceptable

• 19.08.2025, 21:24

New Delhi has increased purchases from 2022 to 42% of total supplies.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said that India is profiting from Russian oil purchases during the war in Ukraine. He emphasized that Washington finds this situation unacceptable, Reuters reported.

In an interview with CNBC, he said that Russian oil now accounts for 42% of India's total purchases, although the figure was less than 1% before 2022. He compared that figure to China, whose purchases of Russian oil have grown from 13% to 16%.

"India is just profiting. They are reselling. What I would call Indian arbitrage - buying cheap Russian oil, reselling it as a product that just came out of a war - that is unacceptable," he said.

President Donald Trump had earlier announced additional 25% tariffs on Indian goods as a punishment for buying Russian oil. This brought the total additional tariffs on India announced since he took office to 50%.