Vladimir Putin has told the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, that Russia is ready to continue \u201cuninterrupted\u201d shipments of oil to India, signalling a defiant stance to the US as the two leaders met in Delhi and affirmed that their ties were \u201cresilient to external pressure\u201d.<\/p>\n
The statement, made on Friday after the annual India-Russia summit, appeared to be directed at western countries \u2013 particularly the US \u2013 that have attempted to pressure New Delhi into scaling back its ties to Moscow.<\/p>\n
The US president, Donald Trump, in August imposed an additional 25% import tariff on India<\/a> over its purchase of cheap Russian oil, arguing it was undermining US sanctions and helping Putin bankroll the invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n The punitive tariffs were met with anger in New Delhi and described by the Indian government as unreasonable and unjustified<\/a>. India\u2019s relationship with Russia goes back decades and is seen as one of the country\u2019s most important defence and geopolitical alliances.<\/p>\n In his statement, Putin made it clear that Russia did not intend to back down faced with US pressure over its energy cooperation with India<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cRussia is a reliable supplier of energy resources and everything necessary for the development of India\u2019s energy sector,\u201d Putin said. \u201cWe are ready to continue ensuring the uninterrupted supply of fuel for the rapidly growing Indian economy.\u201d<\/p>\n Modi did not mention oil directly in his statement, but said that \u201cenergy security has been a strong and important pillar of the India-Russia partnership\u201d.<\/p>\n In a television interview before his meeting with Modi, Putin had challenged US interference in India\u2019s purchase of Russian oil and said he intended to raise it with Trump. \u201cIf the US has the right to buy our [nuclear] fuel, why shouldn\u2019t India have the same privilege?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n