Trump brushed aside MEA's attempts at denial: Congress on 'Russian oil import' claims

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday took a swipe at the Narendra Modi-led Central Government following US President Donald Trump claiming for the third time that India has assured him it would halt oil imports from Russia.

In a post on X, Ramesh pointed out that Trump had raised the issue of India’s Russian oil imports “thrice in the past five days” and was likely to continue doing so ahead of his scheduled meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest later this week.

“President Trump says he has spoken to his good friend Mr. Modi and India has promised to stop these imports. The MEA says that it is unaware of such conversations(!) but President Trump has clearly brushed aside the MEA's attempts at denial,” Ramesh wrote.

The Congress leader’s remarks come amid growing diplomatic attention on Trump’s statements, which appear to contradict India’s official position.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has previously maintained that India’s oil purchases from Russia are guided by national interest and market stability, not external pressure.