India-Russia ties not defined by oil, but is 'privileged strategic partnership': FM Lavrov

United Nations, Sep 28 (IANS) Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says his country's relation with India is not defined by oil purchases but is a “particularly privileged strategic partnership”.

Asked at his news conference here on Saturday about US pressures on India against buying Russian oil, he said, “I can't consider them a criteria for relations between India and the Russian Federation”.

“We have strategic partnership, as we call it, for a long time, strategic partnership relations”, he said. “Now we call it a particularly privileged strategic partnership”.

India’s leaders, he said, “are perfectly capable of making these decisions for themselves and publicly”.

“We have full respect for the national interests of India, full respect for the foreign policy that (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi is carrying out to promote these national interests”, he said.

US President Donald Trump has imposed a 25 per cent punitive tariff on India for buying Russian oil and is pressuring it to stop the purchases.

Russia’s relations with India cover a broad range, he said,

“We have a very extensive bilateral agenda, trade, military, technical cooperation, finance, humanitarian matters, healthcare, high-tech Artificial Intelligence”, he said

“And, of course, (there) is close coordination at the international level, within the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation), BRICS, and bilaterally”, he said.

He spoke about the recent meeting between Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and PM Modi in Tianjin, China, at the SCO summit, and Putin’s planned visit to India in December.

The issue of oil or trade doesn’t figure in the diplomatic discussions with India, he asserted.

“I'm not even asking what is going to happen to our trade relations or oil”, he said.

“I don't ask our Indian colleagues (about) this”, he said, mentioning his meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday and their forthcoming visits to each other’s countries.

After Friday’s meeting, Jaishankar said on X that they had “useful discussion on bilateral ties, the Ukraine conflict and developments in the Middle East”.

Although India has been singled out for the punitive tariff, Turkiye is also a target in Trump's pressure campaign against Russian oil.

Lavrov said that Turkiye told the US that if it wants to sell its oil, it was ready to discuss the terms, but what it buys from Russia or other countries, "that's our own business”.

"I believe that that is a very worthy response, shows that India, like Turkey, has self-respect”, he said.

--IANS

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