*Russia will increase its use of non-Western currencies for trade withcountries such as India, its foreign minister said on Friday, as he hailedIndia as a friend that was not taking a “one-sided view” on the Ukrainewar.*
Sergei Lavrov visited India on a mission to shore up support from a countryRussia has long regarded as an ally a day after U.S. and British officialspressed India to avoid undermining the dollar-based financial system andsanctions imposed on 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.
