Addressing the Valdai Policy Forum in Sochi, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a sharp critique of U.S. pressure on India over energy purchases. With unusual candour, he stated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would “never take a decision that compromises India’s sovereignty,” underlining that New Delhi will not bow to Washington’s diktats. This message, directed both to domestic and global audiences, reinforced the resilience of Indo-Russian ties amid shifting geopolitics.
Putin’s remarks carried an economic warning too. Should partners like India be coerced into abandoning Russian oil, he argued, global prices could easily cross $100 a barrel. Such a spike, he warned, would not only hurt developing economies but also force the U.S. Federal Reserve to maintain high interest rates, slowing down the American economy itself. India, he noted, would face losses of up to $10 billion annually if it halted Russian oil imports. In contrast, Moscow signalled readiness to correct trade imbalances by encouraging India to expand imports of Russian agricultural goods and pharmaceuticals, an important gesture ahead of Putin’s proposed December visit to New Delhi.
The Russian leader also highlighted the hypocrisy of American policy; pressuring India not to buy Russian energy while itself depending on Moscow for uranium. At the same time, he urged Europeans to “sleep peacefully” instead of being misled by fearmongering about Russian aggression.
Beyond energy and trade, Putin invoked the founding role of India and China in BRICS, portraying them as forces striving for a just world order. His words thus carried a dual resonance celebrating India-Russia trust, while reminding the West that multipolarity, not coercion, is the emerging grammar of global politics.
