NEW DELHI — Indian officials said Saturday that they would keep purchasing cheap oil from Russia despite a threat of penalties from President Donald Trump, the latest twist in an issue that New Delhi thought it had settled.

The defiance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government reflected increasing frustration with a relationship that was once much praised but has been souring rapidly. There is a growing sense in India that its leaders should not allow increasingly volatile American policymaking to shape its choices on vital energy supplies for its huge population, 1.4 billion people.

Trump said last week that as part of his latest round of tariffs, he would impose an unspecified penalty on India in addition to a tariff rate of 25% if the country did not cut off its imports of Russian crude oil. On Friday, he appeared to echo reports of a recent dip in the arrival of Russian oil to India.

“I understand that India is no longer going to be buying oil from Russia,” he told reporters. “That’s what I heard. I don’t know if that’s right or not. That is a good step. We will see what happens.”

On Saturday, two senior Indian officials said there had been no change in policy. One official said the government had “not given any direction to oil companies” to cut back imports from Russia.

Trump did not say what penalty India might face if it were to defy his call to cut off Russian oil imports. Some officials and analysts have said that Trump’s focus on India’s purchase of Russian oil could reflect his frustrations with Russia over lack of progress on a settlement with Ukraine, or may be a negotiating tactic as India and the United States try to conclude the early phases of a trade agreement.

Analysts and officials in New Delhi said that if the move was intended to pressure Russia, its efficacy was questionable, considering that China and Turkey, two other major importers of Russian oil, have not faced similar penalties. Agreements for such supplies also involve long-term contracts and logistics arrangements that are difficult to curtail overnight, one official said — especially given that Trump has expressed doubts about his own measures on Russia and is prone to changing his mind.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Mujib Mashal
c. 2025 The New York Times Company