Since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, India has refused to join the sanctions of Russia and has also sent a large trade order to Putin . According to statistics, in this month of html alone, about 6 million barrels of Russian oil were loaded and shipped to India, which was half of the oil imported from Russia last year.
In addition to purchasing Russian oil, India also plans to purchase Russian coking coal. Indian Steel Minister Ram Chandra said it plans to double the amount of coking coal imported from Russia and activate the rupee- ruble exchange mechanism to settle transactions in order to circumvent US sanctions. Coincidentally, a Russian natural gas company recently asked India's largest natural gas carrier GAIL to pay for the import of natural gas through euros .
At present, Indian companies are reviewing this request. Sources claim that Indian companies feel that Russia's request is not a problem, as European countries are also using the euro to pay for imported goods. It is worth mentioning that Putin also issued an ultimatum on the deadline for Europe to switch to rubles to purchase natural gas, requiring that the measures must be implemented on March 31.
It is not difficult to see from this that Russia is accelerating the "de-dollarization" process, and in the process of achieving this goal, India chose to stand on Russia's side, which can be said to be very loyal. Obviously, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has completely changed India's diplomatic trend. At a time when the US and the West are sanctions are being increased layer by layer, the Modi government has not only further turned to Russia, but its relations with China have also been improved.
Recently, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited India and held a three-hour meeting with Indian Foreign Minister Su Jiesheng, reflecting the easing of Sino-Indian relations. At the meeting, the foreign ministers of the two countries reached four consensuses and agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation. It is worth noting that after the visit of Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov is planning to visit New Delhi this week to discuss the issue of Russia's selling crude oil to India.
Indian media said that the two sides will negotiate on the establishment of a trade payment system for to simplify the payment system for rupee and ruble and pave the way for future trade between the two countries. At the same time, India will also seek Russian guarantees that S-400 will be delivered in a timely manner. However, at this critical moment, a large-scale anti-government protest suddenly broke out in India.
According to TASS , under the call of some major guilds, a national strike of occurred in in India on the 28th, with about 200 million people participating. It is reported that the strike will continue today. It is understood that the demonstration affected the normal production of India's post office, public transportation, telecommunications industry, energy, oil and other industries. The bankers' union said they supported the strike and protested government policy with .
Although the slogans shouted by the protesters were to demand fair distribution, raise wages, and privatization of state-owned enterprises, it was obvious that this protest was not that simple and the time was too coincidental. If the epidemic in India is serious now, I may not think this protest is strange, but the epidemic in India has now greatly eased and international flights have been resumed.
That is to say, society is returning to normal production, and what we need most at this time is a relatively stable environment. Therefore, there is only one reason for this, that is, some policies of the Modi authorities touch or may touch the interests of some people. Needless to say, everyone understands that India is the first to promote "de-dollarization" and expand trade with Russia. In addition, India is also an important part of the Indo-Pacific strategy of White House .
However, if domestic protests in India go out of control, the Russian Foreign Minister's plan to visit India may be affected. In fact, the US government has warned the Modi authorities more than once recently. On the one hand, the United States requires India to reduce its purchase of Russian energy. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Newland said he called on India to jointly oppose China and Russia with other "democratic countries".
Hotel said that the Russian army's "invasion" against Ukraine is evil, but India's view is changing, which is why the United States and India need to have dialogue.However, if India can change its position, the United States can provide defense and energy assistance. On the other hand, the United States threatens India not to buy Russian S-400, otherwise it will be sanctioned.
Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia and Central Asian Affairs, a subsidiary of the US State Department , declared that the Biden administration is considering whether to impose sanctions on India's purchase of the S-400, and the United States will never allow the arms sales to be completed. India is now an important partner of the United States and hopes that the Modi authorities will stay away from Russia.
To be honest, the United States' similar policies to carrots and sticks have been used in many countries, but they may have to hit a wall this time because India does not eat this set. It can be seen from India's increasing purchase of Russian energy that they are not afraid of the threat from the United States. Moreover, if India is worried about sanctions, it will not deploy its first S400 air defense missile system some time ago. Therefore, it can be foreseen that Biden's move in and were wrong again.
What the United States needs to worry about now should be the de-dollarization issue. As the United States and the West jointly impose financial sanctions on Russia, Putin is ready to completely abandon the settlement of the US dollar. At present, Russia is discussing the establishment of a local currency transaction settlement system with many countries, including India.
