Russia’s Ambassador to India Denis Alipov on Sunday said criticizing India for importing crude oil from his country, but exempting itself from “its illegal sanctions” is unprincipled by Western countries. Shows attitude and double standards.
The Russian Ambassador said in an interview to ‘PTI’ that trade between India and Russia is increasing. There are several payment systems between the two countries and there is also an option to use the currencies of third countries, with some ‘partners’ offering viable options in Asia and the Middle East, he said.
Historically, Russia has not been the major source of fossil fuels for India, but in the last few months India has seen a huge increase in import of Russian crude oil at subsidized rates, while Western Countries have objected to this.
Ambassador Denis Alipov said, “Western countries criticizing India are not only keeping silent on the fact of actively buying Russian energy resources by exempting themselves from their illegal sanctions.
‘He said that Europe had completely lost its independent voice in the process of ‘appeasing’ America’s ambition for power and was now looking to continue its economic well-being by raising energy (oil and gas) prices for the world.
“Those in the West who criticise India not just slyly keep silent about the fact that they themselves actively buy Russian energy resources exempting them from their own illegitimate sanctions, but in doing so explicitly demonstrate their unprincipled position and double standards while claiming otherwise,” Alipov said.
Growing trade between Russia and India
The Russian envoy said that the Western sanctions against Russia had no impact on India-Russia trade and only in the first six months of this year, trade of $11.1 billion was achieved, which was about $13 billion in 2021. “We have good reason to believe that by the end of this year we will set a historical record and it is not only because of the massive supply of hydrocarbons which has increased by more than 10 times,” he said. Referring to several payment systems, Alipov said that one of them the system is the use of the national currency. He noted that in recent years the volume of trade in national currencies has been more than 40 percent.
Alipov said, ‘Recently the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued a special circular, which increases the use of rupee in international trade. This is another step towards supporting the option of invoicing, payment and execution of tasks in national currencies for the trading community. “In addition, there is another way to use third countries’ currencies with some of the partners offering viable alternatives in Asia and the Middle East,” he said. We also see great potential in the establishment of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) International Reserve Fund.
Alipov said that Russian companies and banks that have not been banned can still conduct economic activities using dollars and euros. “As far as sanctions imposed by Western countries are concerned, their ill-effects, both politically and economically, were obviously miscalculated,” he said.
Rising fuel and food prices raised inflation around the world and even developed economies were at risk of a recession. And India’s interest is increasing. “The overall objective is to complement each other’s economic strategies, as both countries aim to increase the level of self-reliance and both are willing to explore new markets with the help of stable mechanisms of financial transactions and logistics,” he said.’
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