'India's interests won't suffer': Moscow assures New Delhi on energy supplies

New Delhi: Moscow has assured New Delhi that Russia would fulfil its obligation on energy supply to India as stipulated in agreements between the two sides, notwithstanding unfair competition from other countries.

“I can guarantee that India’s interests as they apply to Russian supplies will not suffer. We will do everything to ensure that this unfair and dishonest competition does not damage our agreements,” Sergey Lavrov, the foreign minister of the former Soviet Union nation, said in an interview with a TV channel.

The interview with Russia Today was aired just before Lavrov arrived in New Delhi to attend the meeting of the foreign ministers of the BRICS nations.

Lavrov had a bilateral meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, his counterpart in New Delhi, soon after flying in from Moscow.

The meeting between Lavrov and Jaishankar took place as the sanctions imposed by the United States and the rest of the West on the import of oil from Russia, as well as the conflict in West Asia, triggered concerns in New Delhi over the energy security of India.

“The complicated international situation also merits an open exchange of views, especially between two trusted partners. Our two nations have a shared interest in strengthening multipolarity. We also benefit through greater de-risking and diversification,” Jaishankar told Lavrov in his opening remarks.

India recently turned down an offer from Russia to sell it Liquefied Natural Gas in view of the US sanctions despite the crisis caused by the conflict in West Asia.

Lavrov referred to the “broader picture” of the global energy market and recalled the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines, hit out at the United States for aggression in the Strait of Hormuz and warned that the Bab el-Mandeb Strait “could also become a zone of confrontation”.

"The ensuing damage to global energy markets would be immeasurable. In this regard, both in our relations with India and in the broader Eurasian context - within the framework of the SCO - it is important for us to develop solutions that ensure protection against the risks posed by such aggressive moves by Western countries aimed at breaking up the global economy and subordinating it to their self-serving interests,” TASS quoted Lavrov telling Russia Today.