India will continue to buy oil from wherever it "gets the best deal" in order to protect the interests of its 1.4 billion people, the country's ambassador to Russia has said. Vinay Kumar's statement comes days before US President Donald Trump's 50% tariffs on India, including a 25% penalty for buying Russian oil and weapons, are set to kick in.

India will continue buying oil from "wherever they get the best deal," Delhi's ambassador to Russia, Vinay Kumar, told Russian state-owned news.

Vinay Kumar's statements came after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar Saturday reiterated that the US tariff was “unjustified and unfair”, and said it was being wrongly “presented as an oil issue”.