Putin vows oil shipments to India might be ‘uninterrupted’ in defiance of US

[ad_1] Vladimir Putin has advised the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, that Russia is able to proceed “uninterrupted” shipments of oil to India, signalling a defiant stance as the 2 leaders met in Delhi and affirmed that their ties had been “resilient to exterior stress”.

The assertion, made on Friday after the annual India-Russia summit, gave the impression to be directed at western international locations – notably the US – which have tried to stress New Delhi into scaling again its ties to Moscow.

The US president, Donald Trump, in August imposed a further 25% import tariff on India over its buy of low cost Russian oil, arguing it was undermining US sanctions and serving to Putin bankroll the invasion of Ukraine.

The punitive tariffs had been met with anger in New Delhi and described by the Indian authorities as unreasonable and unjustified. India’s relationship with Russia goes again a long time and is seen as one of many nation’s most vital defence and geopolitical alliances.

In his assertion, Putin made it clear that Russia didn't intend to again down confronted with US stress over its vitality cooperation with India.

“Russia is a dependable provider of vitality assets and the whole lot essential for the event of India’s vitality sector,” Putin stated. “We're able to proceed guaranteeing the uninterrupted provide of gasoline for the quickly rising Indian economic system.”

Modi didn't point out oil straight in his assertion, however stated that “vitality safety has been a robust and vital pillar of the India-Russia partnership”.

In a tv interview earlier than his assembly with Modi, Putin had challenged US interference in India’s buy of Russian oil and stated he supposed to boost it with Trump. “If the US has the suitable to purchase our [nuclear] gasoline, why shouldn’t India have the identical privilege?” he stated.

It was Putin’s first go to to India since his invasion of Ukraine and there was a visual try to reveal that the connection between the 2 leaders had not been disturbed.

Modi took the weird step of greeting Putin straight off the aircraft and the 2 embraced one another warmly as outdated mates earlier than they'd a personal dinner collectively on Thursday night.

In his assertion, Modi described India’s partnership with Russia as “a guiding star” and stated that “based mostly on mutual respect and deep belief, these relations have all the time stood the check of time”.

Within the joint assertion issued after their talks, each leaders emphasised “that within the present complicated, tense, and unsure geopolitical scenario, Russian-Indian ties stay resilient to exterior stress”.

Earlier than his arrival in Delhi, Putin had vowed to extend cooperation with India and China, in defiance of financial sanctions on Russia from the US and EU.

Friday’s bilateral summit resulted in a number of agreements between the 2 international locations in defence and financial cooperation. The 2 international locations finalised an financial cooperation programme till 2030, which goals to double commerce to $100bn a yr by 2030.

The 2 leaders additionally agreed to reshape their defence ties. Russia stays India’s largest provider of weapons, although this has diminished in recent times as Delhi has labored to diversify.

Although no direct point out was fabricated from India’s buy of particular Russian defence techniques, or Sukhoi Su-57 fighter plane, they agreed to the joint manufacturing of superior defence platforms.