'Brahmins profiteering...': Trump advisor's latest take on India's Russian oil purchase

Srinagar, Sept 01: U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade adviser, Peter Navarro, has reiterated his accusation that India is profiting from the Russia-Ukraine war by purchasing discounted Russian oil, refining it, and exporting it to Europe and beyond. In an interview with Fox News, Navarro called India a “laundromat for the Kremlin” and criticized the country’s elite for allegedly profiting “at the expense of the Indian people.”

"[PM] Modi's a great leader...I don't understand why he's getting to bed with [Vladimir] Putin and Xi Jinping, when he's the biggest democracy in the world," Navarro said.

The attack came while Prime Minister Modi was visiting to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in China, where he met Chinese President Xi Jinping - his first trip to China in seven years.

Navarro claimed that prior to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, India imported little oil from Moscow. Now, he alleged, India is helping “fuel the Russian war machine.”

“India is nothing but a laundromat for the Kremlin,” he said. “You’ve got Brahmins profiteering at the expense of the Indian people. We need that to stop.”

Navarro also defended the Trump administration’s tariffs on Indian goods, asserting that New Delhi’s close ties with Moscow and Beijing pose a threat to global stability.