Russia and India’s complicated relationship hinges on oil

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. When it comes to oil, few countries have needed each other more than Russia and India in recent years. Now, that relationship is being tested.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin in New Delhi this week, just months after President Trump imposed 50% tariffs on India as punishment for buying Russian oil. Despite U.S. efforts to isolate Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, India has maintained warm relations with Moscow, offering it a crucial economic and diplomatic lifeline by buying its sanctioned crude throughout the war.

India has benefited from a deep discount since 2022 because of a patchwork of sanctions on Russian oil and the long voyage for tankers heading from Russia’s western ports to the subcontinent. But recent U.S. secondary sanctions threatened against entities trading with Russian state oil firms Rosneft and Lukoil are set to force India to cut back sharply on its purchases.

Buying oil from Russia has also left India with a giant trade deficit with Russia, something of a sore point for New Delhi and a major theme running through the visit. Both leaders want to maintain their mutually beneficial energy relationship and show they can withstand U.S. pressure, without antagonizing Trump.

Moscow is eager to prevent India’s oil purchases from falling back to near zero—their level before the war. Oil is one of the Kremlin’s largest sources of revenue. India, a net importer of oil, relies on Russia for more than a third of its oil imports, up from just 2% before the war.