Moscow’s deputy envoy to India has cast doubt on the West’s efforts to weaken his country
Western nations are using Ukraine to weaken Russia, but will not succeed, the Russian deputy ambassador to India, Roman Babushkin, said on Saturday at an event in New Delhi. He was speaking ahead of the G20 summit scheduled for September.
Despite the G7 countries having imposed unprecedented sanctions on Russia, which have disrupted global energy and finance markets and supply chains, Russia’s relationship with its non-Western partners, including the countries of the Global South, has been robust and the country “will never be alone,” the envoy insisted.
Babushkin noted that Russia-India relations have been continuously evolving in several fields beyond the traditional defense and energy sectors, whose trade skyrocketed over the last year to nearly $50 billion. Businesses from both countries are actively exploring new opportunities for investment and Russia is keen to continue its contribution to the Indian government’s ‘Make in India’ strategy.
पश्चिमी देश यूक्रेन का इस्तेमाल रूस को कमजोर करने के लिए कर रहे हैं। यह कभी नहीं होगा: भारत में रूस के डिप्टी एंबेसडर रोमन बाबुश्किन (@RusEmbIndia) | इसके अलावा उन्होंने कहा कि “रूस कभी अकेला नहीं होगा” #AajTakG20Summit | @geeta_mohan https://t.co/Q71rkHDA1Q pic.twitter.com/pyMEI4FNv6
— AajTak (@aajtak) August 19, 2023
Emphasizing the importance Moscow gives to its relationship with India as well as its engagement within various formats such as BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Babushkin said the friendship between the two countries could set an example for the world, and that Russia has always respected India’s independent foreign policy.
Noting that Moscow has historically maintained friendly relations with both New Delhi and Beijing, whose relations have been tense in the past several years due to unresolved border issues, the deputy envoy stressed that Russia never wanted to “mint political benefits out of the India-China border tensions.”
