India, Aug. 4 -- In a strongly worded statement, India has hit back at the US after Donald Trump threatened to raise tariffs on goods from India over its purchase of Russian oil and said targeting it "is unjustified and unreasonable" when the criticising countries themselves "indulge in trade" with Moscow.

The Ministry of External Affairs, in a statement, also countered the stance of the European Union for singling out Indian refiners over their exports of crude.

"India has been targeted by the United States and the European Union for importing oil from Russia after the commencement of the Ukraine conflict," the MEA statement said.

Justifying its shift to Russia for crude, the government said that while India's imports are "a necessity...