Russia Turns to China, India for Energy Trade
Russia's new energy policy will not depend on partners in the West for its energy trade anymore, instead, it will focus on more dependable partners such as China and India, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
On Friday, while attending the foreign ministers' G20 meeting in Delhi, the Russian Foreign Minister spoke at the Raisina Dialogue, a multilateral conference held in the Indian capital, the Independent reported.
When asked if Russia plans to turn to Asia for energy trade, Lavrov said Western countries have “launched” the war in Ukraine to change Russian policies, energy policy among them.
“And the blunt way to describe what the change is: we would not anymore rely on any partners in the west. We would not allow them to blow the pipelines again,” he said, noting Russia will instead cooperate with more reliable and credible partners. “China and India are certainly among them.”
In fact, Al Jazeera reported that Asia’s major economies have become the largest buyers of Russian crude oil, amid Western-led sanctions and a price cap imposed by the G7 group.
Russia's economy only fell by 2.1 percent in 2022, rather than the predicted 12 percent.
Lavrov said Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang also urged the G20 members to include the Nord Stream issue in the G20 communique – something Russia has been actively pushing forward.
An article from Pulitzer-award-winning journalist Seymour Hersh suggested that the U.S. and its allies were behind the blasts that damaged the Nord Stream pipelines in September, causing major damage.
Washington denied allegations, while Russia demanded a UN investigation.
