‘Russia has not received any message from India about stopping oil purchases’

Moscow, Feb 3: Russia has not heard any statements from India about stopping Russian oil purchases, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.
His comments came a day after US President Donald Trump claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has “agreed to stop buying Russian Oil, and to buy much more from the United States and, potentially, Venezuela.”
“We haven’t heard any statements from New Delhi on this matter yet,” Peskov said.
The Kremlin spokesman also said that Russia intends to continue to develop its relations with India in every possible way, according to Russian media reports.
Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, who oversees the energy sector in the cabinet, said the government is closely monitoring the situation.
He pointed out that Russia is only seeing public statements from the US regarding the possibility of India refusing Russian oil.
“We’re only seeing public statements. We’ll see how the situation develops,” Novak said.
He said that Russia was confident its energy resources would continue to be in demand globally, as they ensure a balance between supply and demand.
“Overall, our energy resources are in demand. Supply will always find demand because the balance is maintained,” Novak said.
Sources in Russia’s energy ministry said they have not received any notice from Indian refiners to cancel contracts.
India buys about 88 per cent of its crude oil, which is converted into fuels like petrol and diesel, from overseas.
Russian oil made up hardly 0.2 per cent of all crude oil that India imported till 2021. India, the world’s third-largest oil importer, became the largest buyer of discounted Russian crude after Western countries shunned Moscow following its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
India’s import of Russian crude oil dropped to around 1.1 million barrels per day in the first three weeks of January, from an average of 1.21 million bpd in the previous month and over 2 million bpd imports in mid-2025, according to data from real-time analytics company Kpler.
Iraq is now supplying almost the same volumes as Russia, up from an average of 9,04,000 bpd in December 2025, according to Kpler.
Volumes from Saudi Arabia too have risen to 9,24,000 bpd in January, from 7,10,000 bpd in December and lows of 5,39,000 bpd in April 2025. (PTI)