The bilateral economic ties between India and Russia are again in the global spotlight as U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham promoted a bill on comprehensive sanctions against any nation which continues to do business with Moscow. Addressing the audience in a conjunctionally aired interview on Sunday afternoon, Graham disclosed that the intended Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025 has already gathered 84 co-sponsors in the U.S. Senate. Such a bill, should it pass, would strike a serious economic punch on Russia and what might amount to the lifeblood of some of her major trade partners to include India and China.
According to Graham, the current legislation is an economic bunker buster against China, India, and Russia, as all of the countries are known to be in support of a brutal war conducted by Putin in Ukraine, and the request given to the bill should be passed as soon as possible. The bill comes up with stringent tariffs against imported goods of all countries which buy Russian-origin crude oil, gas, uranium, and similar items. There is also an additional demand for more sanctions on the Russian state-owned companies, government agencies, and influential leaders.
The Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air reveals that the second-biggest consumer of Russian fossil fuels was India and it had (in May 2025) imported about 4.2 billion euros of energy products in Russia and on a larger scale (more than 70 per cent of the whole) the aforesaid country had purchased the prowess of crude oil. India and Russia are increasing energy trade, which has enabled New Delhi to access cheaper oil as the markets are volatile across the globe, but the move has also seen India finding itself at a crossroads with U.S foreign policy.
The bill permits a one-time 180-day waiver in case the U.S. President considers it in the national security interest of America. But Senator Graham has been publicly calling on India to give up on economic relations with Russia, writing on X, “Don t continue to finance Putin war machine because you will have no one to blame but yourself.”
Analysts such as Prashant Vashisht at the ICRA say that the possible removal of Russian crude oil in the market may have a bad jolt in the energy prices.
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