Trump aide Peter Navarro
“NEW DELHI: Senior White House adviser Peter Navarro on Saturday alleged that India did not purchase Russian oil before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, while reiterating his claim that New Delhi buys it solely to profiteer. In a post on X, Navarro wrote, “Wow. @elonmusk is letting propaganda into people’s posts. That crap note below is just that. Crap. India buys Russia oil solely to profiteer. It didn’t buy any before Russia invaded Ukraine. Indian govt spin machine moving high tilt. Stop killing Ukranians. Stop taking American jobs.” The remarks follow a post on Friday in which Navarro said: “India highest tariffs costs U.S. jobs. India buys Russian oil purely to profit/Revenues feed Russia war machine. Ukrainians/Russians die. U.S. taxpayers shell out more. India can’t handle truth/spins. Leftist American fake news.”Navarro was angered by a Community Note on X that appeared below his post, which said, “India’s Russian oil purchases are for energy security, not just profit, & don’t violate sanctions. While India has some tariffs, the U.S. has a trade surplus with it in services. U.S. also continues to import certain commodities from Russia which is hypocritical.” Community Notes are created by contributors on X to provide additional context to potentially misleading posts. If enough contributors from different points of view rate a note as helpful, it becomes publicly visible. Navarro has repeatedly criticised India for continuing trade with Moscow, calling the conflict “Modi’s war,” labeling the country “Kremlin’s laundromat,” and alleging it profits from the war. In an interview with Bloomberg Television last week, he said: “India is helping feed the Russian war machine. I mean Modi’s war, because the road to peace runs, in part, through New Delhi.” The ministry of external affairs (MEA) rejected Navarro’s comments. Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “We have seen the inaccurate and misleading statements made by Navarro, and obviously, we reject them. We remain focused on the substantive agenda that our two countries have committed to, and we hope that the relationship will continue to move forward based on mutual respect and shared interests.” Earlier on Friday, White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said that President Donald Trump and his trade team were “disappointed” with India’s continued imports of Russian crude oil but expressed hope for “positive developments.”
