India Unfazed by Proposed US Anti-Russian Sanctions, Vows to Continue Cooperation with Moscow

NEW DELHI, July 18. /TASS/. The US Senate's consideration of a bill on new anti-Russian measures, which would impose secondary restrictions on Russia's trading partners, will not affect New Delhi's cooperation with Moscow, Arvind Kumar, Professor at the School of International Relations at Nalanda University, has told TASS. "I think India certainly will not work under pressure. It has to work with Russia. India certainly is not going to simply come under the pressure of the United States. So whatever India has been doing with Russia, India will continue to do," he said. "India basically has to figure out for itself how best to maximize its interests. India probably won't work under pressure. That's how much India has reflected. I think India certainly won't work under pressure. It has to work with Russia," Kumar explained. According to him, the tool the US has chosen is not the best one. "Tariff measures won't achieve the desired result. They will inevitably harm US interests as well. This is reminiscent of the situation with sanctions. As is well known, sanctions are a tool of US foreign policy, but they often have counterproductive results," Kumar noted. The expert believes that new tariffs could also delay the discussion of the bilateral trade agreement that India and the US plan to conclude. "The bilateral trade agreement will be further delayed. So, the framework that India and the US already have, they will again have to negotiate on a lot of things," he emphasized. In early April 2025, a bipartisan group of US senators introduced a bill for new sanctions against Russia. The initiative included secondary restrictions on Russia's trading partners. On July 14, a bipartisan group of legislators presented an updated version of the bill. The new version reduces the tariffs the US could impose on third countries for the purchase of Russian oil and gas to 100% for the five largest buyers, compared to the 500% proposed in the previous version. The legislators clarified that they consider Azerbaijan, Hungary, India, China, and Slovakia to be the largest buyers of Russian oil. As Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal noted the day before, India is monitoring the US Senate's consideration of the bill on new anti-Russian sanctions and is aware of the proposed initiative. The diplomat also noted that India purchases oil from various countries to ensure its energy security.