Russia Confident India Won’t Stop Oil Purchases
We are confident that India-Russia energy cooperation will continue notwithstanding the external pressure, Russian Deputy Chief of Mission Roman Babushkin said.
New Delhi: Russian Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) and currently Charge d’affaires (CdA) in New Delhi Roman Babushkin has expressed confidence that India would not stop importing oil from Russia. “I don’t expect that to happen,” he told reporters at the Russian Embassy in the Capital on Wednesday. Terming Western sanctions as a “tool of unlawful competition” and “double standards,” the Russian CdA said Indian goods unable to enter American markets due to tariffs are “welcome in the Russian market”. He also mentioned the “successful” visit of Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi on Tuesday to New Delhi and felt the trilateral Russia-India-China (RIC) consultation mechanism could resume “earlier than later”. The senior Russian diplomat’s comments have sparked speculation on whether Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi could hold a RIC meeting at the Chinese port city of Tianjin on the sidelines of the forthcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit there in the face of increased economic pressure and tariff threats by the Trump Administration in Washington.
