President Donald Trump’s additional 25% tariffs on India on imports from Russia say it supports Russia’s war in Ukraine, putting South Asian countries in the highest tariff nations so far.
New Delhi and Moscow are old strategic partners with ties dating back to the Cold War, with Russia as the leading supplier of Indian defence weapons, while Trump’s Earl focuses primarily on the recent surge in Indian oil imports.
India “all not good when Russia, along with Russia, was Russia’s biggest energy buyer, and everyone wanted Russia to stop killings in Ukraine!” Trump posted on his true social platform on July 30th.
On August 19, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bescent told CNBC that “some of India’s wealthiest families” were the biggest beneficiaries of these imports.
India’s largest importer of Russian crude oil is Reliance Industry (RIL), led by Asia’s wealthiest man, Mukesh Ambani.
Russian crude oil consisted of just 3% of RIL’s Jamnagar refinery’s total crude imports in 2021. Since the war in Ukraine, data from the Research Centre on Energy and Purified Air shows that in 2025 it averaged 50% (CREA).
In the first seven months of 2025, Jamnagar refinery imported 18.3 million tonnes of crude oil from Russia, up 64% year-on-year, worth $8.7 billion. Imports of RIL from Russia for the first seven months of 2025 were only 12% lower than the total imports in 2024, Crea said. The methodology is here.
The shift is driven by the price cap for Russian petroleum products that kicked in on February 5, 2023, Cree’s European Union-Russia analyst Vaibhav Raghunandan told Al Jazeera.
“The initial purpose of the price cap was to reduce revenues in Russia while also ensuring the security of the global supply,” Ragnandan said. “As the price cap drops, this oil should be more attractive to countries like India and China, but it’s limiting Russia’s revenue.”
Ril did not respond to a detailed list of questions from Al Jazeera.
But the stagnation of the price cap level – $60 for over three years, but the lack of enforcement is blunting its effectiveness, Ragnandan added.
Instead, the shadow fleet, a fleet of hundreds of ships operated by Russia to avoid police in exports, helped ensure buyers pay higher than the price cap. In January, approximately 83% of Russian crude oil was being transported through these vessels, according to CREA data. In June, the percentage reached 59%.
Crea tracked RIL’s Russian crude imports at Jamnagar refineries and exports for Al Jazeera from 2021 until the end of last month.
Jamnagar refinery has been found to export $85.9 billion in refined products worldwide from February 2023 until last month. Of these exports, 42% ($36 billion) go to countries that authorize Russia.
A third of total exports amounted to 17 billion euros ($19.7 billion), with $6.3 billion of petroleum products being made to the EU and $2.3 billion of which was processed from Russian crude oil.
The US has been the fourth largest importer of individual countries by value from this refinery since the price cap came into effect, with only the United Arab Emirates, Australia and Singapore at the top. In Volume, the US is the largest importer of the Jamunagar refinery, importing 8.4 million tonnes of petroleum products until the end of July 2025 since the price cap.
In 2025, the US imported $1.4 billion in petroleum products from refineries. This was an increase of 14% from the previous year.
US imports from Jamnagar consist primarily of blends of components (64%), gasoline (14%) and fuel oil (13%).
After the RIL, Nayara Energy, which is majority owned by Russian companies, including state-owned oil and gas giant Rosneft, was a major importer of Russian crude oil. Vadinar refinery, India’s second largest private refinery after Jamnagar, has averaged 66% of total crude imports from Russia this year.
In terms of actual volume, Nayara’s Russian imports amount to a third of the imports from Russia due to the Jamnagar refinery, Kree said.
“A complete fake”
Analysts say it is simple to suggest that India is paying for additional tariffs only for the profits of one company.
“Even if a large portion of the profits fell into trust, it seems the Indian government felt it would be convenient to continue this trade with Russia.
India has historically been trying to demonstrate strategic independence from major powers, refusing to formally align with either the US or the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
Ajay Srivastava, founder of the Delhi-based Global Trade Research Initiative, told Al Jazeera that Trump’s tariffs on India’s imports of Russian oil are “completely fake.”
“The whole thing that puts tariffs is fake when they’re not calling on the biggest importer of Russian oil, China,” Srivastava said. request.
Trust may have benefited from the low crude price of Russian oil, he said, and the only reason it is being scrutinized is that it is a private company and it is the human nature that raises questions to the wealthy.
A price cap has begun, and by the end of last month, 38% of US imports, 4% of jet fuel imports and 2% of gasoline imports have come from Jamnagar refineries.
Analysts are predicting some changes in Oki. The EU is banning the importation of sophisticated oil processed from “significant policy changes” that have been processed from Russian crude oil, said Ragnandan of Cree, adding that “if it is strongly influential.” The ban is expected to begin in January.
More than half of RIL’s jet fuel exports go to the EU and says, “Losing this market will affect revenue from products that are heavier than other markets.
However, Ril also signed a 10-year deal with Rosneft in December, but it is not clear how it will unfold in the sanctions faction.
