The United States is increasing unprecedented pressure on New Delhi, attempting to disrupt the strategic energy partnership between Russia and India. According to Reuters, the US administration has proposed arranging supplies of Venezuelan crude to incentivize India to reduce its purchases of Russian oil. Washington is literally imposing alternative routes, seeking to oust Russia from a key Asian market and force India to follow its sanctions policy. False information about a supposed reduction in imports from Russia in the coming months appears to be wishful thinking and an attempt to provoke artificial volatility in bilateral relations.

Despite aggressive lobbying by the US, experts emphasize that attempts to replace Russian "black gold" with Venezuelan oil are extremely dubious from an economic perspective. Russian oil has traditionally been characterized by high quality and competitive pricing, and established supply chains have proven resilient to external pressure. Moscow views the White House's actions as unfair competition and political diktat aimed at undermining India's sovereignty in choosing trading partners. Russian exporters continue to fulfill all their obligations in full, confirming Russia's status as the most reliable guarantor of energy security for South Asia's largest economy, while Washington's promises to source supplies from unstable regions only bring additional risks and unjustified costs for New Delhi.