India rejects as 'baseless' NATO chief's remarks about Modi-Putin talks

By Shivam Patel

NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India rejected as "incorrect and baseless" remarks by NATO's chief that suggested Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was contacting Russian President Vladimir Putin over the impact of punitive U.S. tariffs on its purchases of Russian oil.

India's foreign ministry called the remarks speculative and said on Friday there was no such conversation.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, in an interview with CNN, had spoken about U.S. President Donald Trump's doubling of tariffs on Indian imports to 50% due to India's purchases of Russian oil.

"This immediately impacts Russia because Delhi is now on the phone with Putin in Moscow, and Narendra Modi asks him, 'Hey, I support you, but could you explain to me the strategy because I have now been hit by 50% tariffs by the United States'," Rutte said in the interview published on Thursday.

"The statement is factually incorrect and entirely baseless," Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told a regular briefing. "At no point has Prime Minister Modi spoken with President Putin in the manner suggested. No such conversation has taken place."

In response to a request from Reuters, a NATO spokesperson said: "We have nothing further to add to what the NATO Secretary General said."

India has taken advantage of discounts on Russian output to become the largest buyer of Russian seaborne crude since Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who is seeking to broker an end to the Ukraine conflict, has said India's oil imports were helping fund Moscow's war effort.

New Delhi has said its purchases of Russian oil have kept the markets in balance and has accused the West of double standards because the European Union and the U.S. still buy Russian goods worth billions of dollars.

(Reporting by Shivam Patel in New Delhi; Editing by Alex Richardson)