- Context: Doubling down on his pressure on India to stop importing oil from Russia, U.S. President Donald Trump has ‘greenlit’ legislation that will empower him to levy up to 500% in tariffs on countries that buy oil or uranium from Russia, according to senior Senator Lindsey Graham.
- Mr. Graham, a close associate of Mr. Trump, said the U.S. President on Wednesday “greenlit” the Russia Sanctions Bill, which could be voted in Congress “as early as next week”. “This Bill would give President Trump tremendous leverage against countries like China, India, and Brazil to incentivise them to stop buying the cheap Russian oil that provides the financing for [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s bloodbath against Ukraine,” Mr. Graham said.
- The bipartisan Bill introduced in the Senate in April 2025 has thus far got 84 co-sponsors in the Senate (out of 100 members), and 151 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives, suggesting it will be passed smoothly once brought to a vote. The move came ahead of the arrival of U.S. Ambassador-designate Sergio Gor to New Delhi, who had said that ensuring India ends its import of Russian oil is a “top priority”.
- Mr. Gor, who was sworn in to the position months ago will begin his tenure as Ambassador to India and “Special Envoy to South and Central Asia” on Monday, and is expected to outline his mission with a public statement.
- Earlier this week, Mr. Trump, who had jointly addressed the press along with Mr. Graham, announced they had a “great legislation coming”, as Mr. Graham said the Bill would give the U.S. President discretion to choose the figure of the tariffs over and above 25% penalty tariffs already imposed on India.
- As a result, Mr. Gor’s first order of business in Delhi would likely be to push for a full stop to Indian oil imports from Russia, not just a reduction. This week, Reliance announced that it has not received any cargo of Russian oil at its Jamnagar refinery through most of December, and does not expect any in January, indicating that it has stopped orders of the oil for now.
- Indian PSUs increased their intake sharply in November 2025, but with Reliance stopping all such imports and Nayara Energy, the other big importer under sanctions from Western countries unable to import, it is unlikely that India’s Russian oil purchases can recover to previous levels. In 2018, under similar pressure from the previous Trump administration, India had “zeroed out” its oil imports from Iran and Venezuela as well.
- Meanwhile in Paris, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslow Sikorski expressed “satisfaction” that India has reduced its oil imports from Russia, during a joint press appearance with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Foreign Ministers of France and Germany.
- “Relations between the European Union and strategic partners such as India are very important to us and I express my satisfaction regarding the reduction of import of Russian oil to India because this is financing the war machine of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin,” Mr. Sikorski said.
- In September, during his Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearings, Mr. Gor said that Mr. Trump had been “crystal clear” on the issue of India’s oil purchases. “They (India) must stop buying Russian oil.”
Source: The Hindu