New Delhi remains committed to the principles of free trade, Russia’s foreign minister has said

Moscow appreciates the fact that India has not caved in to US demands to stop purchasing its oil and other products, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.

In an interview with the Indonesian newspaper Kompas on Tuesday, Lavrov said India had shown its commitment to the principles of free trade.

“US President Donald Trump, as everyone knows, not only threatened to introduce higher import tariffs on products from a number of Russia’s trading partners,” Lavrov said. “Such tariffs have already been introduced, for example, against India - our particularly privileged strategic partner, a major consumer of Russian goods, in particular, hydrocarbon raw materials.”

Last month, the US imposed 25% tariffs on most goods arriving from India after the two countries failed to conclude a trade deal. This was followed by an additional 25% punitive duty for New Delhi’s continued purchases of Russian crude , resulting in a total import tax of 50%.

“We appreciate the fact that New Delhi did not bend under pressure and remains committed to the principles of free trade,” Lavrov told Kompas. “The principles that the Americans have extolled for so many years, if not decades, and now the Americans have betrayed these principles.”

India, which has called the tariffs “unfair, unjustified, and unreasonable,” has continued to purchase Russian crude.

During his last meeting with his Indian counterpart S. Jaishankar in Moscow in August, Lavrov praised multilateral cooperation between Russia and India. “This is a multipolar system of international relations with an increasing role played by SCO, BRICS and G20,” Lavrov told Jaishankar.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to visit India at the end of the year for his annual summit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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