Aug 18 (Reuters) - White House trade adviser Peter

Navarro said India's purchases of Russian crude were funding

Moscow's war in Ukraine and had to stop.

New Delhi was "now cozying up to both Russia and China,"

Navarro wrote in an opinion piece published in the Financial

Times on Monday.

"If India wants to be treated as a strategic partner of

the U.S., it needs to start acting like one."

India's Foreign Ministry has previously said the country is

being unfairly singled out for buying Russian oil while the

United States and European Union continue to purchase goods from

Russia.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced an additional 25%

tariff on Indian goods earlier this month, citing New Delhi's

continued purchases of Russian oil. The move will take total

tariffs on imports from India to 50%.

"India acts as a global clearinghouse for Russian oil,

converting embargoed crude into high-value exports while giving

Moscow the dollars it needs," Navarro wrote.

The adviser also said India's close ties with Russia and

China made it risky to transfer cutting-edge U.S. military

capabilities to India.

Separately, Indian Oil Corp, the country's top

refiner, will continue to buy Russian oil depending on

economics, the company's head of finance Anuj Jain told an

analyst meeting on Monday.

Jain said his company's Russian oil processing in the

June quarter was about 24% compared to an average 22% in

2024/25.

He said purchases for the September quarter were

continuing and the discounts on Russian oil were in the range of

$1.50 per barrel to the Dubai benchmark.

Longtime rivals China and India are quietly and

cautiously strengthening ties against the backdrop of Trump's

unpredictable approach to both.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to meet Chinese

President Xi Jinping at the end of the month while Chinese

Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit India from Monday for talks

on the disputed border between the two countries.

A planned visit by U.S. trade negotiators to New Delhi from

August 25-29 has been called off, a source said over the

weekend, delaying talks on a proposed trade agreement and

dashing hopes of relief from additional U.S. tariffs on Indian

goods from August 27.