Trump adviser says Modi should back US, not Russia after SCO summit

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro openly criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, calling the summit encounter “a shame.”

Navarro said he was “not sure what [Modi] is thinking” and expressed hope that Modi “comes around to seeing that he needs to be with us and not Russia.”

Navarro’s comments came a day after PM Modi’s participation at the SCO summit, where Modi engaged in trilateral diplomacy with Putin and Xi on the sidelines. Navarro framed Modi’s gesture as a strategic misstep in India’s alignment.

These remarks follow Navarro’s earlier critiques of India’s economic and energy ties with Russia. He had previously labelled India the “Maharaja of tariffs,” pointing to reciprocal duties, and accused Indian refiners of buying discounted Russian oil to resell at a profit allegedly contributing to Russia’s war effort in Ukraine.

Navarro also stirred controversy by alleging caste-based profiteering, saying “Brahmins are profiteering at the expense of ordinary Indians” when discussing India’s oil imports, and referring to India as a “Kremlin laundromat.”

India’s response came from its Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, who dismissed Navarro’s “laundromat” label, stating that India had not broken any rules in its acquisition of Russian oil.

He highlighted India’s long-standing role as a petroleum products exporter and its adherence to the G7/EU price cap mechanism, emphasizing India’s actions helped stabilise markets and maintain legal compliance.