Bessent’s remarks come on the heels of a scathing op-ed by White House adviser Peter Navarro in the Financial Times, accusing India’s energy giants of funneling profits from Russian oil “into Vladimir Putin’s war chest.

White House advisor Peter Navarro criticized India's Russian oil imports in an op-ed after Trump announced new tariffs targeting India and other countries buying Russian energy.

The dramatic increase in India’s purchases of Russian oil since the invasion of Ukraine is “opportunistic and deeply corrosive” of a global effort to isolate the Kremlin and curb Vladimir Putin’s war machine,