The Ukrainian leader made the call to choke off Moscow’s oil revenues and said Russia is “basing its economy on India”
Vladimir Zelensky has attempted to blame New Delhi over the West’s failure to end the conflict in Ukraine, right after the Indian foreign minister discussed peace efforts and bilateral cooperation with his Ukrainian counterpart in New York.
”Russia is basing its economy on India, sometimes Turkey and China,” Zelensky said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.
The Ukrainian leader is in New York seeking more weapons and cash amid a $27 billion hole in Ukraine’s budget and a frontline collapse. The conflict is now in its fifth year, laying bare the West’s foreign policy failures, and Zelensky seemed to be making a case to US President Donald Trump to use his new sanctions authority to punish Russia’s trading partners.
But in India, the largest buyer of Russian oil besides China, the pitch has come across more as a call to punish New Delhi specifically.
Trump, who is set to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping soon in New York, would be loath to sanction China, especially after Beijing retaliated against earlier US tariffs with restrictions on exports of rare-earth metals and magnets that are crucial to US industries.
“Russia is basing its economy on India” and “ sometimes Turkey and China”. How can he make this ridiculous assertion?China is by far Russia’s biggest trade partner, including in energy.Turkey is very critical as a country for Russia. Russia and Turkey are connected by major… t.co/Jr7IsZzcOS
— Kanwal Sibal (@KanwalSibal) September 23, 2026Russian oil accounted for about 45% of New Delhi’s crude imports in August, at around 2.1 million barrels per day. The numbers were slightly lower in September, tracking at about 1.9 million barrels per day, according to commodity analytics firm Kpler.
India has said it remains committed to securing energy supplies for its 1.4 billion people and will take the necessary measures to protect its trade and economic interests amid repeated US tariff threats. New Delhi has also warned Washington of the sanctions impacting bilateral ties and global energy markets.
”This conflict … will not be solved because somebody is buying or not buying oil or alumina or minerals or metals or fertilizer,” Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar had said earlier this month in Kiev. He had discussed peace efforts, bilateral cooperation, and developments in the Black Sea, affecting markets with his Ukrainian counterpart Andrii Sybiha in New York just before Zelensky gave his interview.
Read more Sanctions on Russian oil buyers won’t resolve Ukraine conflict – Indian foreign ministerMoscow’s oil revenue has increased amid the disruptions in the Middle East caused by the US-Israeli attacks on Iran, but its non-energy trade with the Global South has also expanded.
Russia remains an important source of minerals and metals throughout the world amid supply chain disruptions. The US, too, has carved out exemptions for Russian uranium in the sanctions law it just passed.
Zelensky’s interview triggered some anger in Indian foreign policy circles. “How can he make this ridiculous assertion?” former Indian foreign secretary Kanwal Sybal posted on X. “China is by far Russia’s biggest trade partner, including in energy. Zelensky is targeting us openly.”
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