NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned on Friday (Aug 8) that he had “an excellent” dialog with Russian President Vladimir Putin, throughout which they mentioned Ukraine and methods to strengthen bilateral ties.
The decision got here as Modi, chief of the world’s most populous nation and its fifth-largest financial system, faces troublesome choices over New Delhi’s buy of Russian oil.
US President Donald Trump has given India, one of many world’s largest crude oil importers, three weeks to seek out various suppliers or face new import tariffs of fifty per cent, up from the present 25 per cent.
“Had an excellent and detailed dialog with my good friend President Putin. I thanked him for sharing the most recent developments on Ukraine,” Modi posted on social media.
“I sit up for internet hosting President Putin in India later this 12 months.”
OIL IMPORTS UNDER PRESSURE
Shopping for Russian oil has saved India billions of {dollars} on import prices, retaining home gasoline costs comparatively secure, however that profit is now below risk due to Trump’s tariffs.
The oil purchases are a key income for Moscow’s struggle in Ukraine.
Russia can be one in every of India’s prime arms suppliers, and the nice and cozy ties between the 2 nations date again to the Soviet period. Putin final visited India in December 2021.
The Kremlin has criticised calls to “power nations to sever buying and selling relations” with Russia as “illegitimate”, with out immediately mentioning Trump.
Putin additionally met India’s nationwide safety adviser Ajit Doval in Moscow on Thursday, however no particulars have been supplied about their discussions.
