Russia is interested in joint energy projects with India, says Sergei Lavrov

Russia and India have achieved good results in energy cooperation and Moscow is interested in working on joint energy projects with New Delhi, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told his Indian counterpart in Moscow on Thursday.

Moscow and New Delhi have talked up their "strategic partnership" since U.S. President Donald Trump announced higher tariffs on imports from India earlier this month because of its purchases of Russian oil.

"We have good results in cooperation in the hydrocarbon sector, in the supply of Russian oil to the Indian market. And we have a mutual interest in implementing joint projects for the extraction of energy resources, including in the Russian Federation - in the Far East and on the Arctic shelf," Lavrov said.


He was talking at a joint news conference with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in Moscow.

Russia was able to divert its exports of oil, a significant source of state revenue, away from Europe and mainly to China and India after the West imposed sanctions on Moscow over its conflict in Ukraine.

India and China are the biggest buyers of Russia's oil.

Russian embassy officials in New Delhi said on Wednesday that Russia expected to continue supplying oil to India despite pressure from the United States, adding that Moscow hoped trilateral talks with India and China would soon take place.