The challenging reaction of Moscow after Donald Trump's threats to a major Russian oil buyer
Dmitri Peskov Photo: Kommersant Photo Agency / DDP USA / Profimedia
The Kremlin criticized the threats of US President Donald Trump on Tuesday on the possible increase in customs tariffs for India as a result of his Russian oil purchases, a key source of Moscow's military offensive, AFP reports.
Trump has given Moscow a term until Friday to make progress in a peace agreement with Kiev or, otherwise, he will face new economic sanctions, including possible punitive measures for countries that purchase vital oil and gas exports of Russia.
On Monday, the US leader specifically threatened India with higher customs tariffs, causing New Delhi to qualify any possible “unjustified and unreasonable” movement.
Russia's reaction came on Tuesday.
“The sovereign countries have the right to choose their own commercial partners,” said the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, in press statements.
Without his name on Trump, Peskov criticized calls to “force countries to break commercial relations” with Russia, cataloging these calls as “illegitimate”.
Western allies of Ukraine have tried to reduce Russia's export revenues since Moscow launched the military offensive in Ukraine in February 2022.
However, Russia has managed to redirect its energy sales to other countries, including India and China, ensuring that its flow of billions of dollars continues.
Donald Trump did not introduce new sanctions against Russia after returning to the White House in January.
The US President forced the parties to open direct peace discussions for the first time in more than three years, but the three rounds of Istanbul did not result in any significant progress.
What Donald Trump said
On Monday, the US president announced that he will increase the customs taxes on India imports, as reprisals for what he has described as “massive” Russian oil, according to Reuters and DPA.
“India not only buys massive amounts of Russian oil, but much of the bought oil sells it on the free market with high profits. They do not care how many people are killed in Ukraine by Russia's war car,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, according to Agerpres.
“For this reason, I will increase the customs duties paid by India to the US,” the American leader added, without providing other details in this regard.
