West cherry-picking PM Modi's remarks: Russian envoy

NEW DELHI: The Russian ambassador to India, Denis Alipov, Friday accused the West of cherry-picking remarks from PM Narendra Modi's statement before Russian President Vladimir Putin that suited their own interests and ignoring Modi's comment about India sharing an unbreakable bond with Russia and his "loud and clear" commitment to expand ties with Moscow. Alipov said India and Russia shared the same position on Ukraine as both are seeking a peaceful resolution of the dispute.
French President Emmanuel Macron and others had earlier lauded Modi's remark to Putin on the sidelines of the SCO summit that this wasn't the era of war.
Alipov warned that Russia will stop oil supplies to countries that join the G7 initiative for a price cap on Russian oil.
"If we consider the prices are not fair and unacceptable to us, we would simply stop supplying the oil to global markets and to those countries that join the US initiative on the price cap," Alipov said in an interaction with the media.
He said this will lead to a shortage in the international market and further increase oil prices, adding India had so far taken a "careful" position on the issue and that India was going to pursue its own interests. He said Russia remained ready to further enhance energy cooperation with India. Significantly, Alipov said Russia takes seriously reports that Pakistan might be supplying ammunition to Ukraine and that, if the reports proved to be correct, it would have a very negative impact on Russia's ties with Islamabad. Putin had described Pakistan as a priority partner in a meeting with Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif on the sidelines of the SCO summit.
Alipov asserted neither the sanctions imposed on Russia nor the conflict with Ukraine had resulted in any delay in Russia's defence supplies to India, adding that supply of S-400 air missile defence system was taking place as per schedule.