Washington/New Delhi, Jan. 25 -- US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said on Saturday there is a "path" to remove the 25% tariffs imposed on India as a penalty for buying Russian oil, noting that such purchases by Delhi from Moscow have "collapsed". The levy is part of a 50% tariff that goods imported from India are subject to in the US, though a large number of goods, including electronics, are exempt from this duty. Of this, the remaining 25% is on account of what Washington calls "reciprocal" measures, in response to Indian levies on American products. Bessent on Friday defined the punitive sanctions imposed on India as a "success". "We put 25% tariffs on India for buying Russian oil. And the Indian purchases by their refineries of Russian oil have collapsed. So that is a success. The tariffs are still on. The 25% Russian oil tariffs are still on," Bessent said in an interview with Politico. "I would imagine that there is a path to take them off. So that's a check and a huge success," he added. The treasury secretary also criticised Europe for not imposing tariffs on India, accusing European allies of prioritising trade interests over sanctions enforcement. "Our virtue-signalling European allies refused to do it (impose tariffs) because they wanted to sign this big trade deal with India," he said. Bessent's comments came as senior officials of the European Union are flying to India to conclude negotiations for an India-EU free trade agreement (FTA), which Indian officials have dubbed the "mother of all deals". European Council president Antonio Costa and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen are visiting India to participate as chief guests at the Republic Day celebrations on January 26. They will join Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the 16th India-EU Summit the following day, where the two partners are likely to announce the closure of negotiations for the trade pact. Bessent accused India of importing and refining more oil from Russia after the invasion of Ukraine. "Before the Ukraine invasion, approximately 2% or 3% of Indian oil that went into their refineries came from Russia. The oil was sanctioned. It got deeply discounted and moved up into the high teens-17, 18, 19% was being refined. Huge profits from the refiners," he said. He accused Europe of funding Russia's war by purchasing the oil refined in India. "But in the ultimate act of irony and stupidity, guess who was buying the refined products from the Indian refineries made from Russian oil-the Europeans. They are financing the war against themselves," he added. When asked if he called the Europeans "stupid", Bessent said, "I said there was an act of stupidity." According to official data released on January 15, India's imports from Russia declined, ostensibly because of American sanctions against the purchase of Russian crude oil. Imports from Russia declined 2.77% year-on-year to $4.16 billion in December 2025, and fell 9.41% to $44.97 billion during April-December 2025. India had described the US action as "unfair, unjustified and unreasonable" while maintaining that its energy policy is guided by its own national interest. India and the US have been engaged in negotiations for a bilateral trade agreement but efforts to find common ground have failed, with New Delhi rejecting American pressure on certain sectors that it considers "red lines" to protect its domestic producers. Observers who did not want to be named said both sides are nonetheless engaged and talks are on in a positive direction....