News Desk
NEW DEHLI: India is moving to strengthen its energy ties with Russia just months after scaling back imports of Russian crude in a concession to the Trump administration, highlighting the shifting calculations behind global energy diplomacy.
Sources familiar with the matter said that New Delhi and Moscow are preparing for Russia to resume direct sales of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to India for the first time since the start of the war in Ukraine, marking a major deepening of bilateral energy cooperation.
The discussions, reportedly initiated during a March 19 meeting in Delhi between Russian Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin and India’s Petroleum and Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, include both LNG and crude oil sales.
Officials indicated that crude deliveries could increase sharply in the coming weeks, potentially doubling from January’s levels to account for at least 40 percent of India’s total imports.
For New Delhi, which became a major buyer of discounted Russian crude last year, these imports have been a key factor in sustaining Moscow’s wartime economy, even as they attracted international scrutiny.
India has also signaled to its domestic energy importers that it may resume Russian LNG purchases, while reportedly seeking a sanctions waiver from Washington to avoid violating Western restrictions.
The country’s external affairs and petroleum ministries declined to comment on the potential deal, though a foreign ministry spokesperson confirmed that Delhi is in talks with multiple nations to secure energy supplies, including LNG, and is already purchasing Russian liquefied petroleum gas for civilian use.
