U.S. President Donald Trump says Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has agreed to stop buying Russian oil, as Washington moves to isolate Moscow and tighten global energy sanctions.
00:00Welcome back. U.S. President Donald Trump says Indian Prime Minister Nandindra Modi has agreed to stop buying oil from Russia.
00:09Speaking at the White House on Wednesday, Trump called it a big step towards cutting Moscow's energy revenues and ending the war in Ukraine.
00:19No, we were not happy with him buying oil from Russia because that lets Russia continue on with this ridiculous war where they've lost a million and a half people.
00:29By the way, Russia has lost a million and a half people, soldiers mostly.
00:33This is a war that should have never started, but it's a war that Russia should have won in the first week.
00:38And they're going into the fourth year. And I want to see it stop.
00:42So I was not happy that India was buying oil. And he assured me today that they will not be buying oil from Russia.
00:50That's a big stop.
00:52Russia is currently India's top oil supplier, providing about a third of its imports.
00:57Indian officials have long defended those purchases as vital for the country's energy security.
01:04The announcement follows months of U.S. pressure.
01:08Trump has already imposed tariffs of up to 50 percent on Indian exports to discourage its Russian oil purchases,
01:16a move New Delhi criticized as unfair since other major buyers such as China and Turkey have not faced similar penalties.
01:24Trump said he now wants China to follow suit as Washington tightens sanctions and trade pressure on countries still buying Russian crude.
01:33India and China are the two largest buyers of Russian oil,
01:36taking advantage of steep discounts since Europe cut off imports after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
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