Russia has said that it welcomes India’s decision to not support the price cap on Russian oil announced by the G7 and their allies. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak made the statement during his meeting with India’s Ambassador to Russia, Pavan Kapoor on December 9.

“The Deputy Prime Minister welcomed India’s decision not to support the price cap on Russian oil, which was imposed on December 5 by the G7 countries and their allies,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Novak stressed that Russia is responsibly fulfilling its contractual obligations for the supply of energy resources, diversifying energy exports to the countries in the east and south amid the energy crisis. Earlier in September, G7 nations agreed to impose a price cap on oil imports from Russia.

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According to the statement issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry, Russian oil imports to India rose to 16.35 million tonnes in the first eight months of 2022. Notably, India continues to import oil from Russia despite the ongoing war between Moscow and Kyiv. The Ministry of External Affairs has defended the decision of purchasing Russian oil.

During the summer, Russia was ranked second in terms of oil shipments to India. Furthermore, deliveries of oil products and coal also increased. During the meeting with Pavan Kapoor, Novak invited the Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri to take part in the international forum, Russian Energy Week 2023, which is scheduled to be held in Moscow from October 11-13, 2023.

During the meeting, the two sides noted the record growth in trade between Russia and India. Kapoor and Novak expressed the desire to continue the interaction, increasing cooperation on trade in energy resources like oil, petroleum products, liquefied natural gas, coal and fertiliser.

Russia’s Deputy PM Alexander Novak offered cooperation to India on leasing and building large-capacity ships in order to not depend on the ban on insurance services and tanker chartering in European Union and the United Kingdom, the statement said. Novak described introducing a price cap on Russian oil as an “anti-market measure” which he stressed affects supply chains.

“The introduction of a price cap on Russian oil is an anti-market measure. It disrupts supply chains and could significantly complicate the situation in global energy markets. Such non-market mechanisms disrupt the international trading system as a whole and set a dangerous precedent in the energy market,” Novak said in the statement.

“As a result, the problem of energy poverty is being aggravated not only in the developing world, but also in the developed countries of Europe,” it added.