New Delhi: Ahead of the G20 Summit being held in New Delhi, Ambassador of Russia to India, Denis Alipov makes explosive revelations on some important issues ranging from Ukraine conflict, the grain deal, India's G20 Presidency outcome, and the new map issued by China.
Excerpts
On India's Presidency of G20 & its outcome
Indian presidency experiences a strong pressure from countries who in Russia’s opinion hijacked the G20’s agenda making the Ukraininan crisis a topic of discussions. G20 being a consensus based group should focus on economics & business but since last year political issues were discussed, something that we do not accept. If there is no consensus then the item should be removed. Political matters should never be discussed in G20. So in our perception the success of G20 rests very largely on the shoulders of those who are insisting on non consensual issues of the agenda. We very strongly supported the priorities & agenda that India has put forward for G20 & are hopeful that the outcome will be the one that India aspires for and is hoping to reach. In any case I believe that the summit will be a huge success for India and the world regardless of the formal outcome we all are looking forward to.
On Ukraine…
Despite the assertions from the other side it is Russia that is open to peace. Ukraine consistently on record says that they do not want negotiations. The west continues to supply weapons to Ukraine. Last year in March we agreed on the broad peaceful agreement which was later on derailed by the US & other Ukrainian supporters intentionally & so all the claims & accusations that Russia does not want peace or the so called Copenhagen format that Ukraine has done recently, is not something that we see as basis of finding a solution since in that format the 10 point formula of Zelensky is being discussed. This formula has nothing in it but set of alternatives opposing Russia. If somebody wants to find solution we all need to sit & discuss & together agree on some settlement.
On not an era of war….
Russia has just retaliated to the aggression launched against us. The era statement should be addressed to Zelensky & the US. They did not show any intention to resolve the issue. Zelensky forbade himself legally to speak with Russia. There is a law in Ukraine preventing negotiations with Russia. Ukrainians passed a law sometime back that forbids negotaitiosn with Russia.
On Russia's position in case of India China conflict
Our relations with India as our relations with China are very wholesome. We will never sacrifice our relations incase of any unfortunate development in the world. We do not develop our relations with any country at the expense of any other. But we advocate improvement in the relations between Indian & China. Having said that we do not interfere into the disputes & contradictions that India has with China. We have been always very respective of the position India & China have said that the boundery issue is a bilateral issue. We hav a trilateral mechanism between Russia India China, a format which was formed well before BRICS & was quite active prior to 2020. But after the Galwan incident the dialogue between India & China became more complicated. We are keen to continue with the trilateral format which is very helpful to build confidence, the basis for improvement of relations. This will happen soon or later. The sooner the better.
On the newly published Chinese map.
We haven’t commented on that but they have some discrepancies on the Russia China border as well. We don’t exaggerate this issue with the Chinese & we have noticed India too does not exaggerate it too. It doesn’t change the situation.
On giving Defence equippments to Pakistan
We do not supply Defence equippments to Pakistan. We have Defence cooperation with India not with Pakistan.
On payment systems
US doesn’t want Russia to use USD in transaction with other countries. But we already had established mechanism of rupee rouble trade before the crisis. So the mechanism does exist & is workable but it doesn't work appropriately because the Indian financial communities, Indian banks are not allowed to use it fearing secondery sanctions or some kind of consequences if they start doing business with Russian banks. Even knowing that the dollar in such transactions are in no way involved. The US has no leverage to disrupt or be a party to the bilateral currency transactions. Even knowing that banks are allowed to do it the overcautiousness is the main reason behind the fact the mechanism has not been launched so far. There is a trend of increasing use of Indian currency are signs of multipolarity.
We are trying to creat workable mechanism in the current circumstances so that trade & economic relations continue unhindered. Projects like North South corridor is in focus. Its a multinational project involving Iran & other countries. We have on agenda mutual understanding that we need to have FTA between India & Eurasia in which several countries besides Russia participate, some central Asian countries, Belarus & Asian states.
On Joint Declaration
The situation is complicated. There is no consensus on one particular point of agenda which is the Ukrainian part. In that case the non consensual item should be removed from the agenda. We have agreed on all topical issues of the world..climate, sustainable devlepment, financial crisis, food crisis, we have consensus on all except the Ukraianian part. Russia says lets discuss it. We are open for discussion. There is the Security council for political issue. G20 has been established for resolving financial & economic problems that the world faces, not geopolitical problems.
If you say that the energy situation or the food crisis has direct bearing on the eco situation, its not the Ukrainian crisis that has triggered the energy crisis or disruption of food & grain supplies, not even the Russian actions in that part of d world. It is the sanctions that has a direct bearing on food crisis. Sanctions from the west has disrupted. The main supply of wheat & grain to the world markets for several years has been Russia & not Ukraine. Ukraine supplied only 3%.
And blaming us of walking out of the Black sea grain initiative, is hypocratical. The initiative doesn’t work because the 2nd part of it which presupposes the participation of the Russian banks in transactions for food supplies, which presupposes the allowing of Russian ships to use their ports, supply grain…this part doesn’t work. & this particular part is the main reason why there is shortage of grain supply. Not because Ukraine supplies something. And Ukaine continues by land.
India’s role in solving Russia Ukraine issue
It will certainly help if India decides to take it forward, give some ideas. But they should be aimed at finding the truth, true solution to the problem... there are proposals from African countries besides Zelensky formula. We are open to any. So far we have not seen ideas that are truly helpful to find solution to start negotiations.
On Russia withdrawing from the Grain deal
There are 2 parts to the grain deal. One is through the black sea, was implemented. We have ceased our participation in that part because the other part involving Russian companies, Russian grain supplies was never launched. So all the UN can do is address & request the G7, the US & the western countries to display goodwill & take necessary steps to allow the Russian part of the grain deal to work. The UN doesn’t have any other means other than pleading & requesting. And the US & Germany have rejected it so far. So Russia has withdrawn from one part. The reality is that the other part has not worked so far.
On whether Russia is open to peace proposal & if there is none where is the war going
We are determined to achieve all the objectives that we have put. We have been very open, we have tried on many occasions for dialogue with NATO, US & the EU on the security architecture, but the fact is we cannot live in Europe if there is a feeling of danger from someone. Europe feels danger from Russia. It is not a stable situation. We cannot continue living with in constant fear of each other. We have been saying this very patiently to all NATO members that NATO cannot continue to expand eastwards because we feel danger in that extension. NATO does not hide the anti Russia objectives that they have. We cannot live with NATO at our borders. They have very arrogantly dismissed all our concerns for decades. We had warned while having those discussions with US & NATO that if they do not agree to an acceptable security architecture a serious situation could errupt & it has erupted. Besides, this is only one part of the problem. Another part is what about the legitimate coup that happened in Ukraine in 2014 openly supported by US for their geopolitical purposes.
On what concessions is Russia ready to make for peace if as solution they say Ukraine will not join NATO
We want Ukraine should be a neutral state. That is the first step to solution. We are open to a dialogue with NATO. It should be a dialogue, should be in good spirit & good will.
On S400 delays……
Delays of S400 didn’t happen because of military aggravation but after that we had agreed mutually on a timetable & it is being followed very meticulously. Supplies continue & they will be concluded on time as stipulated in new agreements formed in new supplies.
On Bali declaration..
It cannot be repeated after there were Nord stream blasts, disruption of ammonia pipeline in Odessa, all these very seriously aggravated the energy & food crisis. These were revelations by western agencies. Statements by some former PM’s that they intentionally disrupted the peace negotiations between Russia & UKraine & before that Minsk agreement to win time for Ukraine to build up militarily for full scale military operation in the East, Donbas republics. The impact of sanctions was not reflected in the Bali formula. If they want resolution they should be open to changing the Bali para. But they want to retain it. We don’t agree with that.
On India's position in the global context..
India is a global power. It will become a member of UNSC, it will be one of the centres of decision making very soon. It is rightly positioned as leader of the Global South & to lead the process of democratization of international principles.
