India Rejects NATO Chief’s Claim That Delhi Is ‘On Phone With Moscow’ Over US Tariffs

India on Friday dismissed remarks by NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte suggesting that US tariffs on India were prompting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to press Russian President Vladimir Putin to clarify his Ukraine strategy, calling them “factually incorrect and entirely baseless,” Indian Express reported.

In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs said, “We expect the leadership of an important institution like NATO to exercise greater responsibility and accuracy in public statements.”

Speaking to CNN on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday, Rutte had said that US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Indian goods were having a “big impact” on Moscow. “This (tariff) immediately impacts Russia because that means Delhi is now on the phone with Vladimir Putin in Moscow, and Narendra Modi is asking, ‘I support you, but could you explain me your strategy because I have now been hit by these 50 per cent tariffs by the United States,’” he said, according to Indian Express.

Trump last month imposed a 25 per cent reciprocal tariff on Indian goods, along with an additional 25 per cent penalty for India’s continued purchase of Russian oil. The US President has accused New Delhi of enabling Moscow’s war on Ukraine through its oil trade.

At the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, Trump also criticised NATO countries for buying oil and gas from Russia, saying it amounted to “funding the war against themselves,” and proposed punitive tariffs to compel Russia to end the war.

Modi and Putin last spoke on 17 September, Modi’s 75th birthday, when the Indian Prime Minister reiterated India’s “full support for the peaceful resolution” of the Ukraine conflict. The two leaders had also held a one-hour conversation on 1 September after travelling together to their bilateral meeting following the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit (SCO) in Tianjin, China.

(With inputs from Indian Express)