*India’s finance minister on Friday said New Delhi would continue topurchase crude from Russia as its people required oil at a discount afterthe surge in global prices.*
India has already started buying oil from Russia, Nirmala Sitharaman said,adding that the transition to gas was challenging as supplies had reduced.
Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov is on a visit to New Delhi to getsupport from the country after U.S. and British officials pressed India toavoid undermining the dollar-based financial system and sanctions imposedon Russia for its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.
India and China are the only major countries that have not condemned whatRussia calls its “special military operation”. After Lavrov visited Chinathis week, Beijing said it was “more determined” to develop bilateral tieswith Russia.
“We are friends,” Lavrov told a news conference after meeting his Indiancounterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, adding India saw the Ukraine crisisin the “entirety of facts and not just in a one-sided way”.
Read Top Stories
Lavrov said Russia’s central bank had several years ago established asystem for the communication of financial information and India had asimilar system.
Russia is the biggest supplier of defence equipment to New Delhi and Lavrovsaid the two countries would use a rupee-rouble mechanism to trade oil,military hardware and other goods.
“We will be ready to supply any goods which India wants to buy,” he said
