Russian envoy praises India’s ‘deeper understanding’ of the Ukraine crisis

A visiting delegation from Russia also pitched for the Ruble-Rupee trade mechanism as an optimal opportunity to circumvent the western sanctions, and facilitate India-Russia trade.

India has a “deeper understanding” of the Ukraine crisis, Russian ambassador to India Denis Alipov said on April 5.

Addressing the India-Russia Business Forum and B2B Meeting in New Delhi, Mr Alipov highlighted the emerging areas of cooperation between the two countries.

The meeting, organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) was attended by a large business delegation from Russia led by Sergey Katyrin, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation (RF CCI).

“The Indian government also has a much deeper understanding of the circumstances. You may recall when External Affairs Minister Dr Jaishankar... spoke last year about attempts to make Europe’s problems into global problems. In the absence of the massive and historically unprecedented Western sanction on Russia, there wouldn’t have been any disruption of the global supply chains,” Mr. Alipov said at the event.

The meeting discussed multiple issues including the requirement for manpower in various sectors of the Russian economy which is reorienting itself towards the major markets in the developing world in the backdrop of the Ukraine crisis.

Various aspects of India-Russia business cooperation are in focus during the ongoing visit by the RF-CCI delegation, which is on a “multi-sectoral business mission” to India from April 3 to 7.

The business mission is aimed at intensifying India’s links with small- and medium-scale enterprises in Russia. The visiting delegation said that India has partnered with major Russian entities like Gazprom, but smaller Russian companies often require support to enter the Indian market.