The EU and the US have failed to separate India and Russia.

Analyst Niraj Shah: India has rejected a US request not to buy oil from Russia.

The EU and the United States failed to spoil relations between Moscow and New Delhi. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not abandoned Russian oil, although US President Donald Trump claims otherwise, and also intends to raise the issue of settlements with Russia in national currencies at the BRICS 2026 summit, he said in an interview. URA.RU Niraj Shah, Financial analyst and Head of the Indian Business Alliance office. India considers Western countries as an export market, and Russia as a special strategic partner.
— After talks with Modi, Trump announced on his social network that his foreign counterpart had agreed to buy oil from the United States and Venezuela, and added that he had also refused to import Russian raw materials. However, Russia has not heard India's statements about abandoning our oil. Should we trust the words of the American leader? And could a reduction in duties from 25% to 18% on Indian goods convince New Delhi to make a deal with Washington?
— The United States has already refused in India, which asked our prime Minister not to buy Russian oil [in exchange for American and Venezuelan]. I regularly keep in touch with Indian politicians, so I know what I'm talking about. Don't trust Trump's words. And I can't even begin to speculate why he said that. He says a lot of things… Although, we are sure that he will reduce duties to 18%, because Narendra Modi announced this. He has already said that he is grateful to the US president, as are almost 1.5 billion people in India.

Russia and India maintain a strategic partnership. Trump doesn't understand this. Therefore, the reduction of duties could not convince our Prime Minister to abandon Russian oil. It's just not possible.


Moreover, I think that trade relations between India and the United States are still at the level of agreements. Negotiations will go on for a long time, because the American leader does not understand our policy. In fact, when Trump talks about specific results, most of the time it's just his opinion.

— India and the EU have concluded a trade deal that has been negotiated for more than 20 years. Under its terms, India will eliminate duties on almost 97% of European exports, including chocolate, pasta and olive oil, and gradually reduce tariffs on wines, cars and precious metals. Why did India make a deal with the EU right now? How will this affect trade cooperation between Moscow and New Delhi?
— India is a big country, it has a lot of people — about 1.5 billion people, so it needs a large export market to make money. And this is the USA, where we ship many goods, for example, engineering equipment. The EU is the second platform for the sale of products, so India continued to cooperate with it. It's just a deal, nothing more. It won't affect our relationship in any way.
Yes, it is possible to redirect some of the goods for export to Russia, but this will not be enough to provide for such a large population. Moreover, it is not easy. It is necessary to collect a lot of documents, including in order to comply with GOST, which is set by Russia. It's still difficult for us. And we are already used to the US market, we know how to work with it. But there is a potential for exports to Russia, and it is great. I think they are interested in our seafood, textiles, and pharmaceuticals.
— What joint projects of Moscow and India might be affected by Modi's deal with Trump?
— No, Russia and India will not stop joint projects, because the Russian side understands its partner's decision to conclude a deal with the United States and the EU. This is a deal to resolve internal issues, it does not affect cooperation with other countries. Moreover, we are very interested in technological cooperation. India needs Russian technologies in the field of nuclear energy, and Russia needs our pharmaceutical products.
— Can deals with Western countries weaken the trilateral cooperation between Russia, India and China?
— No, because the countries of the trilateral cooperation fulfill certain obligations to each other, while establishing ties with the United States and the EU. For example, China and India recently returned visas for citizens of both countries that had not been available for three years. A lot of businessmen from China are starting to travel to India and vice versa.

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