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NEW DELHI: Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov on Saturday said the India–Russia relationship remains steady despite Washington’s tariffs and political pressure, adding that New Delhi has made clear it will not be dictated to on foreign partnerships.Lavrov, who was responding to questions on the sidelines of an event, pointed to the resilience of bilateral ties even as the US accused India of buying “massive oil” from Russia. “(The economic partnership between India and Russia) is not under threat… The Indian Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs have made it clear that India chooses its own partners,” Lavrov said.On India-Russia relations, Lavrov said, “This year, my colleague, I spoke to him yesterday, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, will visit Russia and I will visit India. We hold regular exchanges. I’m not even asking what is going to happen to our trade relations, our oil. I don’t ask our Indian colleagues this. They are perfectly capable of making these decisions for themselves. And publicly, my friend, whom I referenced earlier when he was asked a similar question, said, if the US wants to sell their oil to us, we are prepared to discuss the terms for this. But what we buy from other countries, not the United States, but from Russia or other countries, that’s our own business. And that has nothing to do with the Indian-US agenda. And I believe that that is a very worthy response that shows that India, like Turkey, has self-respect.”Lavrov’s remarks come as Washington intensifies scrutiny of India’s oil imports from Russia, claiming the revenues aid Moscow’s war in Ukraine, which led to a 50% tariff on Indian goods under the Donald Trump administration. Despite this, the Russian minister emphasized that Moscow and New Delhi are continuing cooperation across sectors, undeterred by external pressure.
