India not going to buy much oil from Russia, says Trump

Phone call ahead of Malaysia summit to which both leaders are invited

- ARCHIS MOHAN

US President Donald Trump dialled Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday morning to extend his Diwali greetings, and later told reporters at the White House that the two discussed trade issues, and India’s conflict with Pakistan.

Unlike last week, when Trump had claimed that India would stop all its purchases of Russian crude oil, the US President suggested that New Delhi would curb its procurement of Russian energy rather than completely halting it. He said India will not buy “much oil from Russia”.

In his comments at the White House, Trump said that Modi and him “talked about trade, we talked about a lot of things, but mostly the world of trade. He’s very interested in that. Although we did talk a little while ago about “let’s have no wars with Pakistan”.

“I think the fact that trade was involved, I was able to talk about it then, and we have no war with Pakistan and India and that was a very, very good thing, but he’s a great person and he’s become a great friend of mine over the years,” the US President said.