Kremlin slams Trump tariff pressure on India over Russian oil as illegal

MOSCOW: Russia accused the United States on Tuesday of exerting illegal trade pressure on India after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened again to raise tariffs on India over its purchases of Russian oil.

AI Brief

Russia says US threats to cut trade ties are illegal and defends countries' rights to choose their trade partners.
Trump plans new sanctions on Russia and its energy buyers unless Russia ends its war with Ukraine.
India calls the US threats unfair and will continue buying Russian oil to protect its economic interests.

"We hear many statements that are in fact threats, attempts to force countries to cut trade relations with Russia. We do not consider such statements to be legal," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"We believe that sovereign countries should have and do have the right to choose their own trading partners, partners for trade and economic cooperation, and to choose for themselves the forms of trade and economic cooperation that are in the interests of a particular country."

Trump has said that from Friday he will impose new sanctions on Russia as well as on countries that buy its energy exports, unless Moscow takes steps to end its 3-1/2 year conflict with Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signalled no change in Russia's stance on the war, despite the looming deadline.

New Delhi has called Trump's threats "unjustified" and vowed to protect its economic interests, deepening a trade rift between the two major economies.

Two Indian government sources told Reuters on the weekend that India will keep purchasing oil from Russia despite Trump's threats.