India to continue oil purchases from Russia

India’s finance minister on Friday said New Delhi would continue to purchase crude from Russia as its people required oil at a discount after the 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 to increase use of non-western currencies in trade with “friend” India 

Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov is on a visit to New Delhi to get support from the country after U.S. and British officials pressed India to avoid undermining the dollar-based financial system and sanctions imposed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.

Concluded talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Discussed bilateral cooperation and developments in Ukraine, Afghanistan, Iran, Indo-Pacific, ASEAN and the Indian sub-continent. pic.twitter.com/jAlrpol5Gt

— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) April 1, 2022

India and China are the only major countries that have not condemned what Russia calls its “special military operation”. After Lavrov visited China this week, Beijing said it was “more determined” to develop bilateral ties with Russia.

“We are friends,” Lavrov told a news conference after meeting his Indian counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, adding India saw the Ukraine crisis in the “entirety of facts and not just in a one-sided way”.

Lavrov said Russia’s central bank had several years ago established a system for the communication of financial information and India had a similar system.

Russia is the biggest supplier of defence equipment to New Delhi and Lavrov said 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