In a significant diplomatic and strategic development, United States Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, Chairman of the CIA Subcommittee on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, has claimed that Indian refiners are giving early indications of reducing Russian oil imports following sustained diplomatic and economic pressure from Washington.

Fitzpatrick made the remarks after concluding a high-level two-week mission across India, Pakistan, and Nepal, where he led a Congressional delegation along with Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan, a fellow member of the House Intelligence Committee.

The stated objective of the tour was to strengthen U.S. intelligence oversight engagements, broaden counterterrorism cooperation, and reinforce American influence in South Asia amid the ongoing geopolitical churn caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine and shifting global energy dynamics.

According to Fitzpatrick, his discussions in New Delhi with top Indian officials, including External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and senior national security advisors, revolved around critical questions of energy security, intelligence cooperation, and broader strategic alignment.

The Congressman emphasised that these dialogues, combined with Washington’s recently imposed 50 percent tariff on Indian imports, including a higher 25 percent levy for New Delhi’s continued purchases of Russian crude, have created fresh economic and diplomatic pressure.

As a result, Indian refiners are said to be “signalling” their intention of scaling back Russian crude imports—a move that Washington views as strategically important in reducing Moscow’s revenue streams used to fund its war in Ukraine.

Fitzpatrick framed India’s gradual shift as a “meaningful step” towards aligning with what he described as the cause of freedom and collective resistance against Russian aggression.

The Congressman’s release indicated that India’s partial recalibration of energy trade with Russia could mark a consequential shift in global oil flows, given that India has been one of the largest buyers of discounted Russian crude since 2022.

While New Delhi has maintained that its decisions are guided by national interest and energy security considerations, Fitzpatrick portrayed the signals coming from Indian refiners as the result of sustained strategic engagement with U.S. policymakers and proof that American diplomacy was yielding tangible outcomes in weakening Russia economically.

He also visited senior officials in the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, held oversight sessions with U.S. diplomatic and intelligence personnel, and even visited the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, indicating a balanced itinerary that combined strategic tasks with outreach to cultural communities.

Beyond India, Fitzpatrick’s delegation travelled to Pakistan, where the focus was firmly on counterterrorism coordination, intelligence transparency, and long-term regional security cooperation.

In Islamabad, he met not only U.S. Embassy officials and senior American government personnel but also engaged partner representatives from the United Kingdom, Australia, and Ukraine, reinforcing Washington’s strategy of building multilateral consensus in the region.

His statement emphasised that these engagements advanced intelligence coordination, deepened oversight mechanisms, and established new channels for intelligence-sharing aimed at combatting terrorism and extremism, while also strengthening Pakistan’s role in an evolving U.S.-led security architecture.

The mission also extended to Nepal, where Fitzpatrick underscored America’s role as a “stabilising force” in South Asia. In Kathmandu, he held meetings with U.S. Embassy leaders and senior officials to improve operational oversight, enhance intelligence cooperation, and counter malign foreign influence in the Himalayan state, which has witnessed growing geopolitical tug-of-war given China’s expanding footprint.

Fitzpatrick’s comments highlighted U.S. support for democratic governance, bilateral trust-building, and reinforcement of a rules-based regional order, suggesting that Nepal is being positioned as a critical node in America’s broader Indo-Pacific strategy.

The overarching message of the visit reflects Washington’s multi-pronged South Asia approach: in India, leveraging energy trade to shift New Delhi marginally away from Moscow; in Pakistan, tightening counterterrorism and security frameworks through multilateral engagement; and in Nepal, reinforcing democratic institutions and countering external influences hostile to U.S. interests.

By interlinking these efforts, Congressman Fitzpatrick portrayed the visit as a holistic push to integrate South Asia more tightly into U.S. national security calculations, with particular emphasis on energy realignments, intelligence transparency, and democratic stability.

Ultimately, this visit illustrates America’s increasingly assertive diplomatic posture in South Asia, whereby economic tools like tariffs, strategic dialogues with key partners like India, and intelligence partnerships with Pakistan and Nepal are all being synchronised to counter both Russia’s war financing and China’s expanding influence in the region.

Whether India will actually reduce its Russian oil imports in practice remains to be seen, but the fact that U.S. lawmakers are publicly highlighting “positive signals” from Indian refiners underscores the fluidity of the energy and geopolitical landscape—and the high stakes involved for all actors in the Indo-Pacific arena.

Based On ANI Report