Ukraine crisis will have implications for the whole world including India-Russia relations: Envoy Denis Alipov.
Highlight
- The current crisis in Ukraine will affect the whole world: Denis Alipov
- India can take advantage of the situation to strengthen economic ties with Russia, said Alipov
- Russian envoy said the current situation presented a window of opportunity for Indian businesses
Russo-Ukraine WarRussian Ambassador Denis Alipov said on Saturday that the current crisis in Ukraine will have an impact on the whole world, including Russia-India relations, and its impact is still unimaginable.
Also, he said that India can take advantage of the situation to strengthen economic ties with Russia as Moscow’s western partners have refused to cooperate with it.
The Russian envoy said the current situation presented a “window of opportunity” for Indian businesses to expand their presence in Russia and it makes sense for India to take a closer look at economic cooperation with Russia. .
The ambassador’s remarks are shown in a video posted by the Russian embassy on its Twitter handle.
“This crisis will have consequences for the whole world, including for Russia-India relations. To what extent it will be reflected, perhaps no one can say now,” Alipov said.
“We understand from the fact that our relations are developing in the interests of both the countries and they are of strategic nature. There can be implications in terms of transactions,” he said.
Referring to the possible impact of Western sanctions on India-Russia relations, he said that there is a bilateral mechanism for mutual settlement of transactions in national currencies.
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“There is a working bilateral mechanism for mutual settlement in national currencies which is already in use. The only question is how to use it on a larger scale,” he said.
The ambassador suggested that wider use of the mechanism would help reduce the impact of sanctions.
“It makes sense for Indians to take advantage of the situation when many Western partners refused to cooperate with us, and more actively enter the Russian market,” he said.
“This is a window of opportunity for Indian businesses. It also makes sense for India to take a closer look at cooperation with Russia,” Alipov said.
The ambassador also expressed appreciation for India’s “independent” foreign policy.
“We have said time and again that we welcome India’s independent foreign policy and the strengthening of its role and influence in the international arena,” he said.
India has kept away from resolutions in the United Nations that were brought in to criticize Russia for the military invasion of Ukraine.
“We have never put any pressure on them (India) and, as you know, there are no conditions. The Indians are now under serious pressure in America,” Alipov said.
On evacuating stranded Indians from conflict zones in Ukraine, the Russian envoy said his government was doing its best to evacuate them from Ukraine’s eastern cities of Kharkiv, Sumy and Pisochin.
Alipov claimed that around 3,000 Indians were stranded in Kharkiv, about 900 in Pisochin and 670 in Sumi.
However, in a media briefing on Saturday, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said that the safe evacuation of Indians from Kharkiv and Pisochin is almost complete.
The Indian embassy in Ukraine tweeted in the evening, “Pisochin has been evacuated from all Indian nationals. The mission will remain in touch with him during his visit.”
Bagchi said India is now focusing on evacuating around 700 Indian students from Sumy, a city in eastern Ukraine, which is about 60 km from the Russian border.
“Indians came to us for help and we responded. We formed special groups that are ready to take Indians to Russian territory and then take them to India.
“But the catch is that fighting is going on in these areas and where there are Indians, we don’t have an army. There is no way to take them. We have to meet in some places that are not under fire from Ukraine,” Alipov said. .
He said the Russian side does not have access to these areas and fighting with Ukrainian troops is on.
The envoy said that Russia has kept hundreds of buses ready at its borders to transport the stranded Indians.
“Our buses are waiting and will wait for as long as it takes,” he said.
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