Aug 03, Kathmandu - India has indicated it will continue to buy oil from Russia despite threats from US President Donald Trump.

India's foreign ministry has said its relationship with Russia is "stable and time-tested" and should not be viewed from the perspective of a third country.

At a weekly press conference on Friday, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the comprehensive approach is aimed at securing India's energy needs from the availability of oil in the market and the global situation.

The comments came after US President Donald Trump announced that he would impose a 25 percent customs duty and additional import duties on goods coming from India for New Delhi's purchase of Russian oil.

The threat comes at a time when US President Trump has shown growing displeasure with Russia over its failure to reach a ceasefire agreement in Ukraine and has threatened new economic sanctions if progress is not made.

India was buying 68,000 barrels of crude oil per day from Russia in January 2022, but by June of that year, oil imports had reached 1.12 million barrels per day. Daily imports reached 2.15 million barrels in May 2023 and have fluctuated since then.

The Press Trust of India reported, citing data from data analytics company Kepler, that supplies at one point amounted to nearly 40 percent of India’s imports, making Moscow New Delhi’s largest crude oil supplier.

India’s daily oil consumption is about 5.5 million barrels, of which about 88 percent is met through imports.

The country has historically bought most of its crude from the Middle East, but that changed after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

India, the world’s third-largest crude oil importer after China and the US, has started buying Russian oil at a discount after Western countries boycotted it to punish Moscow.