(Reuters) -Indian officials have said they would keep purchasing oil from Russia despite the threat of penalties that U.S. President Donald Trump said he would impose, the New York Times reported on Saturday.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report.
The White House, India’s Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Trump last month indicated in a Truth Social post that India would face additional penalties for purchase of Russian arms and oil. However, he later said that he did not care what India does with Russia.
On Friday, Trump told reporters that he had heard that India would no longer be buying oil from Russia.
Two senior Indian officials said there had been no change in policy, according to the NYT report, which added that one official said the government had “not given any direction to oil companies” to cut back imports from Russia.
Reuters had earlier reported that Indian state refiners stopped buying Russian oil in the past week as discounts narrowed in July.
On July 14, Trump threatened 100% tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil unless Moscow reaches a major peace deal with Ukraine. Russia is the top supplier to India, responsible for about 35% of India’s overall supplies.
(Reporting by Chandni Shah in Bengaluru; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
