US President Donald Trump’s Trade Advisor Peter Navarro doubled down on his accusation of India profiting off the Russia-Ukraine war by buying Moscow’s oil at a discount, refining it and selling it to buyers in Europe and elsewhere. In an interview with Fox News, the White House adviser dubbed New Delhi a “laundromat for the Kremlin” and slammed the country’s elite for profiteering “at the expense of the Indian people.”

Trump’s trade czar claimed India didn’t buy much oil from Russia before its full-scale assault on Ukraine, but now it was fueling “the Russian war machine.”

“India is nothing but a laundromat for the Kremlin…You got Brahmins profiteering at the expense of the Indian people. We need that to stop,” Navarro said, alleging that Indian refiners were buying discounted Russian crude, processing it, and exporting it at a premium.

“It kills Ukrainians…And what do we have to do as taxpayers? We’ve got to send them more money,” he said.

He also tried to defend Team Trump’s punitive tariffs on Indian exports and claimed New Delhi’s ties with Moscow and Beijing were undermining global stability.

“[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. Trump’s trade war with China and India has accelerated efforts by both countries to rebuild ties after they took initial steps last year to ease tensions along their border.

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PM Modi is also likely to meet President Putin. The timing coincided with the United States’ escalating rhetoric over New Delhi’s trade ties with Moscow and rising protectionist measures under Trump.