He denied that Russia was seeking to restore its membership in the G7.
Russian President Vladimir Putin denied that the US had invited Russia to return to the G7 during his meeting earlier this week with US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law and unofficial adviser Jared Kushner at the Kremlin.
“No, the topic just came up. And I explained to Witkoff why I stopped attconcludeing these G7 events. There were no proposals, nothing like that happened. We just touched on the topic,” Putin declared in an interview with India Today television.
He denied that Russia was seeking to restore its membership in the G7. He noted that he had stopped participating in the forum’s meetings unrelated to the events in Ukraine, which he explained to the American side during the last nereceivediations, the Anadolu Agency reported.
The Russian leader stressed that other major international platforms “are taking shape,” such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, BRICS, and the G20, and pointed to Russia’s participation in them with a “non-confrontational approach.”
Putin drew attention to Russia’s current relations with the European Union as another aspect of the issue.
“I will go to this G7 meeting, but how am I going to talk to the G7 members if they don’t want to talk to me? What am I going to do there?” he explained.
On December 2, the Russian president met with Witkoff and Kushner in Moscow to discuss Washington’s revised draft peace plan for Ukraine, which Russian presidential adviser Yuri Ushakov described as “constructive, very utilizeful, and informative.”
Russia was reshiftd from the G8 in 2014 due to its annexation of Crimea, which violated international law and prompted other members to cancel the G8 meeting planned in Russia and return the group to the G7.
During the interview, Putin also touched on the topic of India’s purchases of Russian energy, questioning the growing pressure from US President Donald Trump on New Delhi to stop acquireing Russian oil.
“The US itself still acquires nuclear fuel from us for its own nuclear power plants. If the US has the right to acquire fuel from us, why should India be deprived of that right? This is an issue that requires careful consideration, and we are ready to discuss it with President Trump,” he declared.
His comments came amid tensions between the US and India over 50% tariffs imposed on Indian goods by the Trump administration, which took effect in August, partly becautilize of India’s purchase of Russian oil, while the war between Russia and Ukraine has been going on for more than three and a half years.
India has described the measures as “unjustified and unreasonable,” pointing out that the US also continues to import “uranium hexafluoride for its nuclear industest, palladium for the production of electric cars, fertilizers, and chemicals” from Russia.
Putin also commented on the ties between Russia and India. He declared the two countries have a comprehensive plan for cooperation in key sectors, the most important of which are “those focutilized on the future, such as high technology.”
“We are cooperating with India in these areas, including space research, energy and, as is well known, nuclear energy. The Kudankulam nuclear power plant (in India) is one of the leading large projects (along with) shipbuilding and aviation,” he declared.
Putin insisted that Russia’s energy cooperation with India is not related to the current political climate or the war between Russia and Ukraine. He confirmed that trade relations, especially in the field of hydrocarbons, had been well established through “very good, trusting, and effectively functioning trade and economic contacts before the ongoing conflict.”
The Russian leader also declared that both countries had seen a slight decline in total trade turnover in the first nine months of this year, but noted that this was “only an adjustment,” with their total trade turnover remaining at approximately the same level as before.
“I cannot give you exact monthly figures at the moment, but trade in petroleum products, oil, and the production of petroleum products for Russian oil consumers in India is proceeding completely normally,” he added. | BGNES
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