Iran Press/ America: Lavrov arrived in India on Thursday evening after concluding a two-day visit to China.
India has purchased at least 13 million barrels of Russian oil since February 24, compared with nearly 16 million barrels for all of 2021. The Asian country is the world's third-biggest oil importer, importing 80 percent of its oil needs. The newswire reported on February 25 that India was exploring setting up rupee trade accounts with Russia to continue trading with the country and avert Western sanctions.
Bloomberg reported on Thursday that Russia is offering India huge discounts to purchase oil at pre-war prices directly. Moscow is willing to sell oil up to $35 per barrel—which could increase to $45 per barrel as fossil fuel prices continue to skyrocket—and wants India to buy 15 million barrels in the first deal.
US sets red lines for China helping Russia evade sanctions
Daleep Singh, seen as one of the key architects behind the US sanctions on Russia, met with Indian external affairs minister Jaishankar in New Delhi on Thursday, where they discussed economic cooperation and strategic partnership, according to a tweet by Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson for India's ministry of external affairs.
Jaishankar also met with British foreign secretary Liz Truss later that day.
In a session with journalists after the meeting, Singh warned against India continuing to import products from Russia since President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine on February 24.
"What we would not like to see is a rapid acceleration of India's imports from Russia as it relates to energy or any other any other exports that are currently being prohibited by the US or by other aspects of the international sanctions regime," Singh said, answering a question about India's decision to take up Russia's offer of discounted crude oil.
203
Read More:
US imposes sanctions on 21 Russian entities, 13 people
