Dhaka, Oct. 21 -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told him that India would stop buying oil from Russia a claim New Delhi later denied.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said, "I spoke with Prime Minister Modi of India, and he said he's not going to be doing the Russian oil thing."

He added that if India continued importing Russian oil, it would "keep paying massive tariffs," which he said New Delhi wanted to avoid.

However, India's government said it was not aware of any such conversation between Modi and Trump.

When reporters asked Trump about this, he replied, "If they want to say that, then they'll just continue to pay massive tariffs."

Russian oil imports have been a...