Moscow [Russia], February 27 (ANI): Russia on Thursday slammed the US for its 'inappropriate and counter-productive' demands that India stop unloading Russian oil tankers. The US had set a deadline of February 27 for India to comply.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova emphasised that India has not officially joined the Western-initiated restrictive measures against Russia.

She reiterated that Russia categorically rejects any unilateral coercive measures, particularly in the energy sector.

'We have noted the recent US demands for India to unload tankers carrying Russian oil by February 27. It is important to emphasise that India has not officially joined the illegitimate restrictive measures that the West initiated,' said the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova.

Zakharova described the relationship between India and Russia as 'privileged and strategic,' highlighting the long-standing cooperation between the two nations.

This partnership has been a cornerstone of India's foreign policy. The two countries collaborate in various areas, including defense, energy, and space exploration.

'Given the particularly privileged and strategic nature of our relationship with India, we consider it inappropriate and counter-productive to comment on the above mentioned statement by Washington. But we would like to emphasise once again what we have said on numerous occasions: Russia categorically rejects unelated pressure measures, including in the energy sector,' the spokesperson said as reported by Sputnik.

The US demands are seen as an attempt to exert pressure on India to distance itself from Russia amid the ongoing Ukraine conflict. However, India has maintained its neutrality and continued to engage with Russia in various sectors.

This development comes as India and Russia are working to strengthen their economic ties, with the goal of increasing bilateral trade to USD 100 billion by 2030.

The two nations are also exploring new connectivity routes, including the Chennai- Vladivostok maritime route, to boost trade and commerce

A report published in January of this year by Morgan Stanley predicted that the US sanctions on Russia's oil sector would disrupt the country's oil exports, create supply challenges, and impact India's imports from Russia.

The US sanctions imposed restrictions on two major Russian oil producers--Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegaz--as well as 157 tankers, insurance companies, oilfield service providers, and traders.

However, on February 11, during India Energy Week 2025, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri stated that there are 'no expectations' that oil purchases from Russia will decrease, as India is open to energy imports from all sources at the lowest rates.

'No, there's no such expectation. All purchases from whichever source are price sensitive and price dependent. I've said on many occasions that we float tenders at the point of importation. For instance, we float a tender that at a particular point, let's say one of the ports, we need this quality of route that anybody can tender prices,' Puri said.

Russia's Deputy Minister of Energy, Pavel Sorokin, also said last week that the trade relations between the two countries are based on pragmatism and mutual respect.

Talking to ANI on the sidelines of India Energy Week 2025, the Russian minister said he deeply values trade relations with India and strongly believes that they will continue to flourish.

'India is one of our most important strategic partners, and we're very glad to see that the relationship is developing indeed on a pragmatic basis and a bilateral basis, taking into account mutual benefits and not any political slogans or any politics,' he told ANI.

India's stance has always been that it is open to importing crude oil from all possible sources to meet its demand. India diversified its crude imports from 27 countries to 40 countries. Argentina is the new addition. The US, Russia, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Iraq are among the big suppliers of crude oil to India. (ANI)