Trade turnover between the two countries has tripled this year, data from New Delhi shows
Russia has entered the ranks of India’s top five partners in trade, data from the Indian Department of Commerce shows. According to the figures, in the ten months of the fiscal year beginning in April 2022 and ending this month, turnover between the two countries has tripled.
Moscow is now in fifth place on the list, after the US, China, UAE, and Saudi Arabia. This marks the first time since the late 1990s, when India began tracking trade statistics, that Russia has entered the top-five. The country ranked 25th in fiscal year 2021-2022, and its best result was in 1997-1998, when it ranked 16th.
While in the previous fiscal year the trade turnover between the countries reached only $13.1 billion, in January 2023 it surpassed $39.7 billion, with the bulk – $37.3 billion – contributed by Russian exports to New Delhi.
Russian energy exports accounted for a large part of the surge in trade. India, the world's third-largest crude importer, began to boost imports of Russian oil shortly after the start of the military operation in Ukraine and the ensuing Western sanctions. The restrictions resulted in Russia losing its traditional oil buyers in the West, and forced Moscow to seek alternative markets by introducing discounts on its energy.
New Delhi, which has repeatedly stressed that energy security is its top priority, chose not to succumb to Western pressure and continued to stock up on Russian supplies even after the EU embargo and the G7 price cap on Russian oil came into force late last year.
As a result, India’s oil imports from Russia climbed to a record 1.62 million barrels per day in February, making the country India's largest crude supplier for the fifth straight month. Russia now covers 35% of all India’s oil imports, up from less than 1% of India's energy market in 2021.
https://www.rt.com/business/572800-russia-india-top-five-trade/
Volker Turk has warned that efforts to advance reparatory justice are facing resistance in “certain quarters,” and urged countries to back Africa’s push.
Reparatory justice for historical crimes, including colonialism, enslavement, and the trade in enslaved Africans, is crucial to dismantling systemic racism, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has said.
Speaking at the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent on Tuesday, Turk linked present-day discrimination against people from the continent to the enduring legacy of colonialism and enslavement.
”Racism and dehumanizing rhetoric continue to permeate public institutions, communities, and online platforms,” he said, according to the UN Press Service. Turk noted that “digital technologies, including AI, are reproducing and amplifying existing biases against people of African descent.”
The remarks come weeks after the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring the transatlantic slave trade “the gravest...
The US VP had to defend President Trump’s Gaza policy at a rally on a Georgia college campus.
US Vice President J.D. Vance was forced to defend Washington’s policy in Gaza after he was booed and heckled at a key MAGA event on Wednesday.
Co-founded by the late Charlie Kirk, Turning Point USA (TPUSA) is a conservative student group that has long been seen as a strong support base of President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement but is now showing apparent cracks.
Less than 15 minutes into a TPUSA event at the University of Georgia on Wednesday, Vance was interrupted by hecklers over US policy in Gaza, with one audience member shouting, “Jesus Christ does not support genocide!” As he attempted to respond, others shouted, “You’re killing children!” and “You’re bombing children!”
Vance replied by referring to Trump’s achievements as president, including securing a fragile ceasefire in Gaza, something he said the previous administration of Joe Biden failed to do.
“I ...
Sergey Shoigu has cautioned Finland and the Baltic states against allowing Kiev to use their airspace for attacks on Russia.
Russia would have the right to retaliate if Finland and the Baltic states are deliberately allowing Ukrainian drones to pass through their airspace, Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu said on Thursday.
“Recently, there has been an increase in Ukrainian drone strikes against Russia via Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia,” Shoigu told journalists. “As a result, civilians are suffering and significant damage is being caused to civilian infrastructure.”
Either Western air defenses are proving ineffective, or these four countries “deliberately provide their airspace, thereby becoming open accomplices in aggression against Russia,” he added. In the latter case, Moscow has the right to self-defense in response to an “armed attack” under Article 51 of the UN Charter, the security chief stressed.
In recent weeks, Kiev has intensified drone strikes on ...
