Washington, D.C., September 1 (HS): Peter Navarro, former trade advisor to US President Donald Trump, sharply criticized India’s role in the Russia-Ukraine conflict by accusing the country’s elite—whom he referred to as Brahmins—of profiteering from Russian oil at the expense of the Indian populace. In a Fox News interview, Navarro alleged that India acted as a laundromat for the Kremlin, buying discounted Russian crude, refining it, and reselling it at higher prices to Europe and other markets.

Navarro contended that prior to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, India’s imports of Russian oil were minimal. However, he asserted that India’s increased purchases of Moscow’s oil are now effectively fueling the Russian war machine, prolonging the conflict and compelling American taxpayers to subsidize aid to Ukraine.

Defending the Trump administration’s punitive tariffs on Indian exports, Navarro further accused India of jeopardizing global stability through close ties with Russia and China. He expressed puzzlement over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s engagement with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, calling India the biggest democracy in the world and questioning the rationale behind its alignment with authoritarian regimes.

This biting critique coincided with Modi’s attendance at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in China, marking his first visit to Beijing in seven years and underscoring the complex geopolitical landscape shaped by Trump-era trade policies and evolving India-China relations.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar