'Nothing Could Be Further From Truth': Hardeep Puri Slams Trump Aide Navarro's Remark On India's Russian Oil Purchases

(MENAFN- Live Mint) India on Monday hit back at the US' constant criticism of its purchase of Russian oil, with Union Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri asserting that New Delhi did not violate any rule.

Slamming Donald Trump adviser Peter Navarro's recent 'laundromat' remark on India, Puri said New Delhi's Russian oil purchase since the Ukraine war has helped stabilise global markets and keep prices in check.

“Some critics allege that India has become a 'laundromat' for Russian oi . Nothing could be further from the truth,” he wrote in a signed article for The Hindu newspaper, without taking the name of Navarro.

Referring to India as“nothing but a laundromat for the Kremlin”, Navarro , during an interview with Fox News on Monday, accused New Delhi of enabling trade imbalances and geopolitical alliances that run counter to US interests.

In his article, Puri also rejected the US' claims of profiteering, saying India has long been the world's fourth-largest exporter of petroleum products, well before Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and its export volumes and margins have remained broadly the same.

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“The volume of exports and refining margins - gross refining margins or GRMs - remain broadly the same. There is no question of profiteering,” he said.

Hardeep Puri rejects Peter Navarro's claims

In a barrage of X posts last week, Peter Navarro had accused India of using US money to buy Russian oil.

“We run a $50-billion trade deficit with India-and they're using our dollars to buy Russian oil. They make a killing and Ukrainians die,” he said in his series of posts, which ended with a picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in saffron robes.

Hardeep Puri countered him, saying that, unlike Iranian or Venezuelan crude, Russian oil purchase has never been sanctioned.

"It (Russian oil) is under a G-7/European Union price cap system deliberately designed to keep oil flowing while capping revenues," he said.“There have been 18 rounds of such packages, and India has complied with each one.”

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He went on to assert that every transaction by India has been legal.

"Every transaction has used legal shipping and insurance, compliant traders and audited channels. India has not broken rules. India has stabilised markets and kept global prices from spiralling," he asserted.

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