India, Oct. 25 -- The sanctions announced by the US against Russian oil majors, Rosneft and Lukoil, which President Donald Trump has described as Moscow's war ATMs, will have repercussions beyond Russia. Any bank that facilitates purchases from these two companies, which together account for half of Russia's crude production and exports, risks potential secondary sanctions from the US banking system. This is the first major sanctions initiative by the Trump Administration since it took charge in January, and marks a major shift in President Trump's approach to the Ukraine war. The US pivot on Russia has multiple implications. One, the sanctions will impact global diplomacy and the economy. Oil prices have risen by 5%. With winter looming, they are likely to head further north unless a deal is worked out between Washington and Moscow soon. The US sanctions have been backed by supportive action from the EU. Ironically, the impact of both actions will hit Europe the most, as energy bills rise in winter. It remains to be seen who blinks first: Europe, in whose interests it is now to push for a ceasefire in Ukraine; or Russia, whose economy cannot remain immune to the impact of the sanctions. Two, the US sanctions have implications for India. How India deals with them will impact not just the economy but also its ties with Russia, which have been on the upswing since Trump weaponised trade tariffs and began to tilt in favour of a pliant Pakistan post Operation Sindoor. The early response from India has been to acknowledge the US sanctions: Reliance and state-owned oil firms are reviewing purchases of Russian crude, which constituted 34% of the country's imports this year; more pertinently, 60% of India's Russian crude imports are from Rosneft and Lukoil, now facing US sanctions. Some analysts estimate a 2% rise in the country's oil import bill, although the increased cost is unlikely to be transferred to Indian consumers, at least immediately. New Delhi will also need to walk the diplomatic tightrope to firewall relations with Moscow - especially when relations with the US have become unpredictable - from whom it is hoping to buy some more air defence systems. New Delhi is set to host President Putin for a bilateral summit in December. The US is increasingly seeing itself as a player in global energy markets, and this is perhaps the context in which the Trump administration's decision to allow oil and gas drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, needs to be seen. This decision overturns a Biden-era one to protect a large tract of wilderness, also a critical habitat of polar bear, caribou, and other wildlife, from oil prospecting and drilling. Trump, a climate denier, has been an advocate of more drilling (remember his presidential campaign slogan, "Drill, Baby, Drill"); he may now want to take advantage of current geopolitics and expand the footprint of oil and gas companies to Alaska and beyond. This does not augur well for a world threatened by the climate crisis. Clearly, what began as a bilateral war nearly four years ago has expanded on multiple planes - from trade to energy to environment - and is reshaping global power relations. It is time to negotiate an end to a debilitating war, so that sanity can return to geopolitics, and economics. New Delhi's challenge will be to balance its relations with Russia, the EU, with which it is in advanced stages of a free trade agreement, and Washington, in this period of great churn - all the while ensuring that its energy security isn't compromised....