Russian FM Lavrov takes a sharp dig at US, says ‘America trying to control Moscow’s ties with India’ | India News

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov criticized the USA in an interview and criticized the customs duties imposed by US President Donald Trump on many countries.

According to ANI, Lavrov said in an interview with BRICS TV that there are efforts to ban India and other partners from buying Russian oil, Sputnik reported on Monday.

The Russian Foreign Minister also talked about various areas such as the peace talks in Alaska last year and how Washington has set the goal of achieving economic dominance while using “coercive” measures such as tariffs, sanctions and outright bans.

Lavrov said, “They (the USA) tell us that the Ukrainian problem must be solved. We accepted the US offer in Anchorage… The USA’s attitude was important to us. By accepting their offer, we seem to have completed the task of resolving the Ukraine issue and moving to a dull-scale, broad-based and mutually beneficial cooperation.”

“So far the reality is the opposite. New sanctions are being imposed and a ‘war’ is being waged against tankers on the high seas, in violation of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. They are trying to ban India and our other partners from buying cheap, affordable Russian energy resources (Europe has long banned) and are forcing them to buy US LNG at exorbitant prices.”

He said that the US has set itself the objective of ‘achieving economic domination’, adding further to it that Americans want to control the routes to leading countries to provide their energy sources to them.

Stating that the measures are coercive and incompatible with fair competition, Lavrov said that the use of tariffs, sanctions, direct bans and the ban on the interaction of some with others are steps taken to achieve these goals.

“Just like India, China, Indonesia and Brazil, we must take all of this into account by remaining open to cooperation with all countries, including major powers like the United States. We are in a situation where the Americans are creating artificial barriers along the way,” he said.

Lavrov was also reported to have said in an interview that Washington was trying to control Moscow’s commercial and military ties with some of its “most powerful partners”, including New Delhi.

India’s oil imports

It comes as External Affairs Minister Vikram Misri said on Monday that “national interests” will continue to guide India’s energy-related decisions, underlining that “adequate availability, fair pricing and reliability of supply” are the key drivers of the country’s energy policy, amid reports suggesting that New Delhi is reducing oil imports from Russia.

Misri noted that India is a net importer in the oil and gas sector and as a developing economy, it needs to remain conscious about resource availability and the impact of import dependency on inflation.

India-US trade agreement

The US reduced tariffs on India to 18 percent, and Trump announced that the US and India “agreed on a trade agreement” with Washington that lowers mutual tariffs.

In his Truth Social post, Trump claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had agreed to “stop buying Russian Oil” and buy much more from the US.

“It was my honor to speak with Prime Minister Modi of India this morning. He is one of my closest friends and a Strong and Respected Leader of his Country. We talked about many things, including trade and ending the War with Russia and Ukraine. He agreed to stop buying Russian Oil and buy much more from the US and potentially Venezuela. This will help END THE WAR currently going on in Ukraine where thousands of people are dying every week!” he said.

Trump’s post continued, “Out of friendship and respect for Prime Minister Modi and at his request, effective immediately, we have agreed to a Trade Agreement between the United States and India, under which the United States will reduce the Reciprocal Tariff from 25% to 18%. Likewise, they will move forward to reduce Tariffs and Non-Tariff Barriers to the United States to ZERO.”

There was no confirmation from India regarding the reduction in Russian oil purchases; However, New Delhi said energy imports will depend on market conditions.

(with ANI entries)

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