Trump and Putin
NEW DELHI: Even though the Trump-Putin Alaska summit concluded without an agreement to end the Russia-Ukraine war, India appreciated the “progress” made in the meeting between the US and Russian presidents, saying in an official statement their leadership in the pursuit of peace is “highly commendable”.The Indian govt is hoping that Trump’s claims about great progress being made in Alaska, and the talk about a comprehensive peace agreement even in the absence of a ceasefire, will ease the US pressure on India to review its energy ties with Russia.India welcomes the summit meeting in Alaska between US President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin of Russia, said the Indian govt. “India appreciates the progress made in the summit. The way forward can only be through dialogue and diplomacy. The world wants to see an early end to the conflict in Ukraine,” it added.Facing an additional 25% tariff/secondary sanctions from the US for its energy imports from Russia, India would have liked to see a quick end to the war in Ukraine as it would have rendered these sanctions untenable. The Trump administration imposed the additional tariffs, which will come into effect on Aug 27, accusing the Indian govt of funding Russia’s war on Ukraine. Just before the meeting, Trump said Russia had lost India as its “oil client” suggesting the US could do a rethink on the secondary sanctions issue. After the meeting, asked whether he still planned to penalise countries like China for trade with Russia, Trump said because of what happened in the summit with Putin, he didn’t have to think about it. “Now, I may have to think about it in two weeks or three weeks or something, but we don’t have to think about that right now. I think, you know, the meeting went very well,” said Trump, raising hopes that secondary sanctions on India too may not be implemented.US treasury secretary Scott Bessent raised the stakes for India, ahead of the Trump-Putin summit, by saying the sanctions on India could go up if the Alaska meeting did not go well. India sees these sanctions as unreasonable and unjustified as other countries importing from Russia have been spared such action.An agency report from New York said Trump had signalled he won’t impose additional tariffs on India as he had said that Russia just lost an “oil client” in India.”Well, he (Putin) lost an oil client, so to speak, which is India, which was doing about 40% of the oil. China, as you know, is doing a lot…And, if I did what’s called a secondary sanction, or a secondary tariff, it would be very devastating from their standpoint. If I have to do it, I’ll do it. Maybe I won’t have to do it,” Trump had told Fox News.
