MOSCOW, May 13. /TASS/. The US is openly talking about plans to take control of a gas pipeline between Russia and Europe, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with the RT India TV channel.
He also noted that the West was using neocolonial methods, trying to prohibit countries from purchasing Russian oil and gas.
TASS has compiled the main points from the top diplomat’s remarks.
Western pressure
The West uses unscrupulous methods to prevent countries from purchasing Russian oil: "Pressing everyone into not buying Russian oil is a dirty tactic. You can describe it in different ways - colonial or neocolonial - but these are methods of exploitation."
The goal is to force everyone to buy "expensive US oil and liquefied natural gas rather than cheap Russian oil." "In this way, they seek to rule the world through controlling global energy supplies."
However, not all countries are giving in to this pressure: "India has firmly and repeatedly stated that it will independently decide from whom and in what volumes it will buy its energy."
Russia guarantees the implementation of agreements on energy supplies to India despite unfair external competition: "I can guarantee that India’s interests as they apply to Russian supplies will not suffer. We will do everything to ensure that this unfair and dishonest competition does not damage our agreements."
Russia continues to respect its obligations regarding energy supplies to its partners, including India: "Russia has never been known for failing to fulfill its obligations to India or anyone else for that matter when it comes to energy supplies."
Russia and India work in the green energy sector, "building energy security potential that will remain reliable for many years to come."
The West is making every effort to ban Russian oil and gas supplies in a bid to punish Moscow: "They are now trying to ban our gas and oil supplies simply because they want to punish Russia."
Situation in Eurasia
The Eurasian continent is set to play its role in stabilizing the international situation, with Russia, India and China having a special mission here: "Countries with great histories, great civilizations that have survived to this day and continue to evolve must at some point acknowledge their responsibility and take Eurasianism from its colonial or neocolonial past to a stage of partnership, mutual understanding, and overcoming status differences that persist in the minds of some of our Western colleagues, as well as fostering inter-civilizational dialogue. I believe Russia, India, and China have a special part to play in this process."
Meanwhile, Europe "has stuck to its neocolonial and colonial mindset and still wants to impose its rules on everyone," including in Eurasia. "Following in the steps of the EU, NATO is also extending its reach across Eurasia, voicing its concern over developments in the South China Sea, the Taiwan Strait, Southeast Asia, and Northeast Asia."
No common entity has been created in Eurasia yet: "There is the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), ASEAN, the South Asian integration framework involving India, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), and post-Soviet institutions such as the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), but there is still no such thing as single umbrella entity. This doesn’t have to be necessarily an organisation, but at least some kind of a forum where all of Eurasia could engage in meaningful dialogue."
US policies and desire for control
Under President Donald Trump, the US says a lot of right things about prospects for mutually beneficial cooperation with Russia but in fact, it continues to pursue a policy outlined by ex-President Joe Biden: "Aside from this regular dialogue - which is normal in relations between people and countries - everything else follows the pattern initiated by President Biden. The sanctions imposed under him have remained in force. Moreover, the Trump administration has adopted its own initiatives in order to punish Russia’s economy."
The US seeks to remove Russian companies from global markets, particularly taking over cooperation between Russia’s Rosneft oil giant and Venezuela: "Now the Americans want to take that business over. It is unlikely to remain cooperation among peers."
Washington is openly talking about plans to take control of a gas pipeline between Russia and Europe from Ukraine: "They [the Americans] also want - they’ve been open about it - to take control of the transit gas pipeline running from Russia to Europe across Ukraine in order to control these flows as well."
The United States also plans to restore the Nord Stream gas pipelines and buy them from the Europeans in order to be able to dictate gas prices: "Look at the Americans planning to reinstate the Nord Stream pipelines that were blown up. <...> The Americans want to buy out the share previously owned by European companies. They want to purchase it at roughly one-tenth of what the Europeans paid for it."
Washington’s goal is clear as the Americans seek "to bring every significant energy supply route under their control."
Iran developments and Hormuz Strait crisis
The United States is demanding the opening of the Strait of Hormuz but it was open to all traffic before Washington interfered: "Until February 28, 2026, the Strait of Hormuz was open to traffic, and the whole world used this waterway, which accounted for bringing one-fifth of all energy to the global markets. Now, the Americans are demanding that the Strait of Hormuz be reopened. But it was never closed. It is always important to look at what lies beneath."
Europe "will probably be impacted more than anyone else by the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz."
If the Iran crisis drags on, global markets will unlikely recover by the end of 2026: "With regard to how the global economy will take it, experts are already arguing that even if the conflict ended now, it would hardly be possible to bring things to pre-war levels before the end of 2026. If it continues for several more weeks or months, the horizon for recovery from the crisis will move even further away."
Western ideologists use propaganda tools to justify the atrocities surrounding Iran: "By the same token, when we are discussing the situation in the Strait of Hormuz at the UN Security Council, the United States says that we need to condemn Iran. We are saying that Iran is responding to something, after all. Our position consists of designating the root cause by saying that it was an unprovoked aggression against Iran. But they are attempting to persuade certain Arab countries of a different logic, claiming that these are two different wars."
One of the goals of aggression against Iran was to prevent Tehran’s relations with Arab nations from normalizing: "I have no doubt that when plans to stir up aggression against Iran were being hatched, one of the goals was to prevent the normalization of relations between Iran and the Arab states."
The BRICS group "offers quite a fitting platform for launching initiatives. We will see how it pans out."
Palestinian issue
Crises emerging in various parts of the world are distracting the international community from the need to resolve the Palestinian issue: "It means that all of the efforts that are being taken right now on Venezuela, Iran, Cuba, Greenland, and now Canada - it was also mentioned as one of the upcoming issues on the agenda - all of these issues are moving us away from settling the most protracted, the most negative crisis in the world - that is, the crisis around Palestine."
The Middle East will remain a hotbed of extremism for decades unless a Palestinian state is created: "I have no doubt that without a Palestinian state, we will perpetuate a hotbed of extremism for decades to come - one that will harm everyone, including Israel and its Arab neighbors. Because Israel, as we know, responds disproportionately to extremism and terrorist attacks."
Russia-India relations
Moscow has no secrets from New Delhi when it comes to defense cooperation: "India’s defense capability is an area of our relations where we have practically no secrets from our Indian friends."
Russia-India relations are based on friendship: "A situation where our paths diverge simply does not exist - it is unthinkable. We began our conversation with the very foundation of Russian-Indian relations: friendship."