India’s Oil Windfall: Bankrolling Putin’s Brutal Assault on Ukraine While Trump Takes a Stand

In a bold call-out on CNBC (clip is above), Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent laid bare the inconvenient truth: Before Russia’s savage invasion of Ukraine, India imported less than 1% of its oil from Moscow. Today, that figure has skyrocketed to a staggering 42%, turning India into one of the Kremlin’s top lifelines amid Western sanctions. “The system is allowing India to profiteer by buying cheap Russian oil, reselling it, and pocketing $16B in excess profits,” Bessent declared. “This opportunistic arbitrage is unacceptable.” And he’s spot on—India’s actions aren’t just shrewd business; they’re directly funding Vladimir Putin’s war machine, prolonging the bloodshed in Ukraine. As President Donald Trump ramps up tariffs to curb this betrayal, it’s clear: America First means holding enablers accountable, and Trump is right to lead the charge.

The numbers don’t lie. Since Putin’s unprovoked aggression began in February 2022, India has gorged on discounted Russian crude, with imports surging from a paltry 68,000 barrels per day to over 1.1 million barrels daily by mid-2025. That’s a mind-boggling increase, making Russia India’s largest oil supplier and accounting for more than 40% of New Delhi’s total imports. Conservative analysts have hammered this point home: India’s purchases have injected tens of billions into Russia’s coffers, offsetting the bite of U.S. and European sanctions designed to starve the invasion of funds. As Breitbart reported, India’s state-owned refineries have been snapping up Russian oil at bargain-basement prices, refining it, and flipping it to Western markets—including the U.S. and Europe—for hefty markups.