India posing as peacemaker while funding Russia’s war machine: Report
Delhi's mediation farce exposed as Russian oil imports hit record 2.8 million bpd
New Delhi: India is projecting itself as a rising global power and mediator in the Russia-Ukraine war while functioning as a punching bag swinging far beyond its actual strength and credibility, with its double game exposed by massive funding of Moscow’s war machine.
India presents itself as a potential peacemaker, yet its mediation efforts have repeatedly failed to produce results as neither Ukraine nor Russia fully trusts New Delhi, viewing its “balanced” posture with suspicion.
The economic hypocrisy is massive and measurable. Before the 2022 invasion, Russian crude made up barely 2 percent of India’s imports — under 100,000 barrels per day. By 2023 it surged to nearly 1.8 million bpd (around 39 percent). In July 2026 it hit a record 2.8 million barrels per day, more than 55 percent of India’s total crude intake worth €5.5 billion that single month.
Even after fluctuations to 2.08 million bpd in August and 1.75 million in September 2026, cumulative tens of billions in discounted oil purchases have provided sustained financial lifeline to Moscow’s war machine, while India’s assistance to Ukraine remained meager, limited to humanitarian gestures.
The Indian double game extends to battlefield. Ukrainian intelligence has identified Indian-made electronic components, including from companies such as Aura Semiconductor, inside Russian Shahed/Geran drones used to attack Ukrainian cities.
At the same time, official Indian figures acknowledge at least 227 nationals recruited into Russian armed forces through deceptive job offers, with dozens killed and others missing. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has publicly named India among 47 countries whose citizens Russia uses as cannon fodder. Smaller numbers of Indians have also volunteered on Ukrainian side.
U.S. officials including the Trump administration and senators Richard Blumenthal and Lindsey Graham have openly accused India of helping finance Putin’s war machine, with legislative efforts targeting major Russian oil buyers. Zelenskyy has welcomed those measures.
At United Nations, India’s pattern is consistent evasion — repeated abstentions on resolutions condemning invasion, demanding Russian withdrawal, seeking reparations, nuclear safety, return of Ukrainian children and calling for ceasefires including February 2026 fourth-anniversary resolution.
Now after years of hedging, India floats a three-part Black Sea and energy truce proposal and expects praise for comprehensive diplomacy, but the proposal does not erase the record of a nation that bankrolls one combatant, whose components appear in attack drones, whose citizens die on both sides, and that systematically abstains from accountability.
