18 July 2025
The NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has urged three BRICS countries—Brazil, China and India— to "make the phone call" to Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop the war in Ukraine —or face secondary sanctions from the United States.
Rutte made the comment while meeting with senators in the US Congress on 16 July.
"My encouragement to these three countries, particularly is, if you live now in Beijing, or in Delhi, or you are the president of Brazil, you might want to take a look into this, because this might hit you very hard," Rutte told reporters. "So please make the phone call to Vladimir Putin and tell him that he has to get serious about peace talks, because otherwise this will slam back on Brazil, on India and on China in a massive way," Rutte added.
On 14 July US President Donald Trump said he would impose "very severe tariffs" against Russia if no deal was reached to end the war in Ukraine in 50 days.Trump also threatened secondary tariffs of 100% on countries that buy Russian exports.
Brazil, India and China account for most of Moscow's energy trade. And together with South Africa, they are the core nations of the 11-member BRICS alliance.
Trump had already threatened higher tariffs on BRICS countries that align with the bloc's plans to contest US authority.Even before Trump's announcement of secondary tariffs, US officials have been working on a bipartisan bill for even tougher sanctions. The legislation seeks a 500% tariff on goods imported from countries that continue to buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other exports.
Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, cautioned against “double standards” and underlined that “securing the energy needs of our people is understandably an overriding priority for us”. Russia currently accounts for around 40 per cent of India’s total oil imports. The G7 countries, plus the rest of the EU and Australia are amongst the main countries imposing sanctions on Russian oil products.
Writing in India Today, Sushim Mukul, said this “provocative statement” by Rutte “raises questions about diplomatic overreach and propriety”, adding “NATO's role is security, not economic coercion”. In his attempt to be Trump's tough messenger, as witnessed at the June NATO Summit, Rutte risks alienating a strategic partner like India as well as other BRICS states.