Washington: India is engaging with American lawmakers over concerns surrounding a new Russia sanctions bill introduced in the US Congress, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said on Wednesday.

The bill, backed by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, seeks to impose 500 per cent tariffs on countries-- including India and China-- that continue to trade with Moscow even after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago.

When asked about potential implications of the bill, Jaishankar said, India will "cross that bridge when we come to it."

"Regarding Senator Lindsey Graham's bill, any development which is happening in the US Congress is of interest to us if it impacts our interest or could impact our interest," the minister said in a press conference in Washington.

"Our concerns and our interests on energy, security have been made conversant to him (Lindsey Graham). So, we'll then have to cross that bridge when we come to it. If we come to it," he added.

Graham, who is sponsoring a tough new sanctions bill on Russia, said the legislation aims to pressure countries like India and China into buying Russian oil and other goods to weaken Moscow's war economy and push Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table on Ukraine and give Trump "a tool" to bring that about.

Amid Western sanctions, countries like India and China have continued buying discounted Russian oil, making them targets of the proposed legislation. India, the world's third-largest oil-importing and consuming nation, traditionally sourced its oil from the Middle East.

However, it began importing a large volume of oil from Russia soon after the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. This was primarily because Russian oil was available at a significant discount to other international benchmarks due to Western sanctions and some European countries shunning purchases.