Russia has put in place mechanisms for payments in national currencies for transactions with India and other partners and their use will be intensified to bypass sanctions imposed by the West over the Ukraine conflict, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday.
Lavrov told the media after holding talks with his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar that Russia is ready to supply any goods that India wants to buy, and that the two sides will work out a way to sidestep the “illegal and unilateral sanctions” of the West, including for the supply of military hardware.
His remarks came a day after US deputy national security adviser Daleep Singh said there will be consequences for countries that attempt to circumvent the Western sanctions over Ukraine’s invasion. Singh also said the US doesn’t want to see any “rapid acceleration” in India’s imports from Russia of energy and other commodities.
Lavrov flew into India from China shortly after Daleep Singh concluded his talks with Indian interlocutors regarding the fallout of the Ukraine crisis and the wide-ranging sanctions imposed by the US and its partners to squeeze the Russian leadership and financial system.
