Russian President Vladimir Putin said Western countries were using the Ukraine conflict as a pretext to take punitive measures against countries maintaining strong economic ties with Moscow.
Putin made the remarks during his four-day visit to China, where he held talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit.
“The events in Ukraine are just a pretext for resolving economic issues with some countries whose economic ties are not to someone’s liking,” Putin was quoted as saying by Russia’s TASS news agency.
“You know, we hardly discussed this topic (at SCO summit). Why? Because, frankly speaking, it doesn’t really concern us,” the Russian leader said.
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Putin’s remarks came days after US President Donald Trump imposed a whopping 50 per cent tariff on Indian imports, citing New Delhi’s continued import of cheap Russian oil.
Trump’s decision has led to a dramatic downturn in India-US relations, with the foreign ministry terming the move “unreasonable” and “unjustified”.
Modi’s visit to Japan and his meetings with Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Tianjin last week were seen by many as a message to Trump that India is keen on looking for other options, instead of caving in to US pressure.
Putin, in his media interaction, claimed that the true reason behind many of these sanctions is the growing economic imbalances between the West and other major economies like India, China and Brazil.
He noted that the imposition of additional tariffs on Brazil earlier in August is an example of sanctions that had no direct connection to the Ukraine conflict.
“There is a trade disproportion between the United States and India or with China, but there is no situation between Brazil and the United States, for example. And, by the way, Brazil faced additional tariffs on the 6th of August, even though the deadline was the 8th of August. So what does Ukraine have to do with this? Nothing. It’s only about domestic politics… Ukraine doesn’t have anything to do with that. So, of course, there is some imbalance in trade, but I believe that those should be addressed through negotiations,” said the Russian leader.
West uses Ukraine conflict as a ‘pretext’ to act against India, China: Putin
