It’s not clear whether the Trump administration’s decision to impose sanctions on two Russian oil companies was taken after back-channel deliberations with India, but the move will compel private Indian refiners to either halt or substantially reduce their imports of crude oil from Russia.

In fact, India’s public sector refiners too have to ensure no direct purchases are made from Rosneft and Lukoil though they could continue to buy Russian oil from traders, mostly European and outside the sanctions net. In all, India buys about 1.5 million barrels per day of oil from Russia, which is around 35% of the country’s total imports.

President Trump has been demanding for some time now that India—and other nations like China —halt purchases of Russian crude altogether. The sanctions have mad

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