‘Hindi-Rusi bhai bhai’: Lavrov assures India on Russian oil supplies, says US wants to ‘seize all energy routes’
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "‘Hindi-Rusi bhai bhai’: Lavrov assures India on Russian oil supplies, says US wants to ‘seize all energy routes’")
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Photograph: (AFP)
Sergey Lavrov assured India that Russian energy supplies will remain stable despite Western pressure, accused the US of targeting energy routes, and praised strong India-Russia ties.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday (May 13) reiterated Moscow’s commitment to New Delhi, saying that India’s interests in energy supplies from Russia “will not be affected”. He assured that Russia will continue to ensure stable energy supplies for India despite what he called an “unfair competition”. Lavrov’s remarks come ahead of his visit to India for the BRICS summit, during which he will hold talks with Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar and attend the foreign ministers’ meeting.
Lavrov also accused the US of having a goal to “seize everything”. He alleged that the US was trying to dominate global energy corridors and impose pressure on countries maintaining energy ties with Russia.
“Their [US] goal is to seize everything, to seize all energy routes that are important. This goal is pretty clear and I’m confident that India understands what is happening,” Lavrov said.
“I can assure you that India’s interests when it comes to Russian supplies will not be affected and we will do our utmost to ensure that this unfair play, unfair competition, could not affect our arrangements,” he added.
Lavrov said that Western nations, particularly European countries, were politically motivated to reduce dependence on Russian energy supplies rather than being driven by market factors.
“And it’s not a force majeure, an act of God, that the Europeans recall when they strongly refuse to have contracts on energy supplies from Russia. Now they try to ban our gas and oil simply because Russia needs to be punished,” he stated.
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“We do not punish anyone and we treat our commitments in good faith. The commitments that we have in our relations with our partners. It doesn’t matter whether we’re talking about friendly or non-friendly countries. If we reached an agreement, it’s in the Russian tradition to live up to the arrangements,” Lavrov added.
He also criticised Western powers, accusing them of cancelling agreements and pursuing economic dominance.
“In the West, they have different traditions. They like to cancel history, to cancel arrangements, to come up with some excuses, to once again live at the expense of others, to punish, punish, and punish,” Lavrov said. “They put Europe into a dire crisis. Energy-wise and food-wise, probably Europe will be the one to be affected the most from the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz,” he said.
“The ban to buy Russian oil and gas means that they will need to switch to the US supplies of LNG, which come at a higher price,” Lavrov added.
‘Hindi-Rusi bhai bhai’
Lavrov also hailed the friendship between India and Russia saying that “Hindi-Rusi bhai bhai” (Indians and Russians are brothers) is not just a fun slogan to chant but has become a part of our culture.
“Indian cinema, Raj Kapoor, more recent television series and films – they are immensely popular in Russia, everywhere, in every corner. The economy, joint energy production, military cooperation, nuclear and other forms of energy, cultural and humanitarian ties, and a high-level political dialogue marked by unprecedented trust – all of it is rock solid,” Lavrov said.
