The Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs S. Paul Kapur told a US House subcommittee that India is gradually reducing its purchases of Russian oil.
“The Indians have been reducing their purchases of Russian oil and diversifying away, which is what we wanted them to do. India has increased imports of US energy,” he said, suggesting that replacing Russian crude with American supplies, along with sourcing from other global producers, offered a viable path forward.
At a hearing on South and Central Asia on Wednesday, Republican Congressman Keith Self raised concerns that ongoing Russian oil exports were continuing to bankroll Moscow’s war against Ukraine.
The sale of Russian oil continues to fund the Ukraine war,” Self said, pressing the administration on enforcement mechanisms. He asked, “How are you going to enforce or measure if India has stopped buying Russian oil?” and pointed to opaque trading practices such as thirdparty traders, blended cargoes, ship-to-ship transfers and socalled “ghost ships”, which are often used to mask the origin of crude.
When pressed for clarity, Kapur avoided giving a direct answer, deflecting the question instead. He said, “I won’t be in the enforcement business. That will be, I think, probably my DOW colleagues, will be thinking about ships that are travelling around.”
He said that he did not have operational details. “I don’t know the details of how that’s going to be worked out. I’m happy to stay in touch with you about it,” Kapur said.
Despite the lack of specifics, Kapur told lawmakers that India has been “gradually shifting its sourcing strategy”.
Kapur did not provide specific figures during the hearing but framed India’s evolving import mix as broadly aligned with US objectives.
Defence Deals in Pipeline
He also highlighted ongoing defence cooperation. “We have also some potential purchases of weapons systems in the pipeline that will help India to protect itself better, ensure its sovereignty, also will create American jobs, be good for both sides. So, we have a number of things in the pipeline. And I think that momentum has continued despite some of the uncertainties around trade. And it’s going to continue now even more so, because the trade issue has been largely resolved.”
The hearing also turned to Washington’s broader strategic calculus in the Indo-Pacific, particularly regarding China.
Paul Kapur said that an India that can be independent and stand up for itself and preserve its freedom of action “actually works to our strategic advantage and promotes our strategic interest because what we’re trying to do fundamentally is not to keep China out of the region but to prevent China or any single hegemon from taking over or imposing coercive leverage on the region.”
