New Delhi: In response to Western pressure on India, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday that Russia is willing to discuss oil and high-tech supplies to India, and that New Delhi might act as a mediator between Moscow and Ukraine. Lavrov also claimed that India and Russia are moving toward a rupee-ruble payment system in statements to the media after bilateral discussions with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar here. Lavrov, who arrived in New Delhi late Thursday, stated:
“If India wants to buy anything from us, we are ready to discuss and reach mutually acceptable cooperation.” “We will be ready to supply to India any goods which it wants to buy from us. We are ready to discuss. Russia and India have very good relations.” To a question on the possibility of India becoming a mediator between Russia and Ukraine, he said: “India is an important country, if India sees to play that role which provides resolution of the problem….
India may assist such a process if it maintains its position of a just and rational approach to world issues.” Later in the day, during a phone chat with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he too “conveyed India’s readiness to contribute in any way to the peace efforts,” while reaffirming his appeal for a stop to the bloodshed as soon as possible. When asked if Russia and India were going to a rupee-ruble payment system to avoid sanctions, Lavrov told reporters that Moscow had begun utilising national currencies instead of dollars and euros in dealings with India, China, and other countries many years ago.
“Under the circumstances, this trend, I believe, will be intensified, which is natural and obvious… The rupee-ruble has been going on for a long time. We don’t want to depend on a system that would be closed anytime, and we don’t want to be part of a system whose masters can steal your money overnight”, referring to the western financial system that has blocked out Russia as part of sanctions over the Ukraine crisis. Referring to Russia being shut out of the SWIFT banking system (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications), Lavrov said Moscow had begun developing national payments systems many years ago, when they realised the “entirely unreliable nature” of their Western partners.
“In Russia, the central bank, several years ago established a system of communication of financial information. India has a similar system, which is called RuPay and it is absolutely clear that more and more transactions would be done through these systems using national currencies, bypassing dollar, euro and other currencies which proved totally unreliable,” he added. On the supply of discounted Russian oil to India, which has sparked off Western discontent against India, he said: “As regards oil supplies and high technology, if India wants to buy anything from us we are ready to discuss and to reach mutually acceptable forms of cooperation “. “India and Russia for years have pursued trade in national currencies and this will be intensified including in defence. India is a friend and my visit is in that context.
Russia is willing to supply any product that India requires, and we will work out a deal,” he added. “I have no doubt that any pressure will affect our partnership… the relationship between India, Russia, and China, which others have been trying to suppress, and this politics, and they are also trying to force others to follow their politics,” he said, referring to Moscow’s new push towards a new geopolitical order minus the west. “I believe that Indian foreign policy is defined by independence and the concentration of the country’s and state’s actual, legitimate national interests.”
The same policy basis exists in the Russian Federation and this makes us as big countries, good friends and loyal partners, an important part of the international relations,” he said. On the nature of talks with the Indian side, he said they were “characterised by the relations which we have developed with India for many many decades; the relations are strategic partnership, even a specially privileged partnership as our Indian friends called it sometime ago; and this was the basis on which we were promoting our cooperation in all areas, economy, military, technical, humanitarian, investment, and many other fields.” Elaborating on the nature of the relationship, he said:
“We always respect each other’s interests and we always try to accommodate the interests of each other, and this was the meaning of our discussion which covered all bilateral areas of cooperation and covered of course international and regional issues.” On the new world order with emphasis on cooperation between India, China and Russia, which Moscow is pushing for, he said that it was discussed with the Indian side.
“We discussed among other things our cooperation in the RIC (Russia, India, China), we spoke about developing this trio and how it should be used more actively to stabilise international relations to ensure equality in international relations, and this is very topical because Russia, India and China are now, so we have many plans, we never imposed our products, if countries which are interested in trading with Russia if they have concrete needs to expand the goods that we supply we are always ready to seek agreements based on the balance of interests and mutual benefit.”
“The situation in the region is not perfect, like any other place on earth, and we support the Indian effort and to consolidate the regional countries and to promote mutually beneficial projects in South Asia in particular.” He objected to the Ukraine crises being termed a “war”. “You called it a war which is not true. It is a special operation, military infrastructure is being targeted. The aim is to deprive the Kyiv regime from building the capacity to present any threat to Russia.”
He said there was progress in the Ukraine talks. “There is progress there, in particular, as regards the recognition that Ukraine cannot be a bloc country, cannot seek happiness in NATO; a nuclear-free, non-bloc neutral status – these are things that are now understood to be absolutely necessary.”