Russia, India abandon US dollar in mutual settlements

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Alexander Mikheev, Director General of Russia's state arms exporter, Rosoboronexport, announced, on Tuesday, that Russia and India have abandoned the use of the US dollar in mutual settlements, with all payments made in rubles and rupees.

Mikheev told reporters in New Delhi, "By tradition, we name all transactions in dollars for ease of calculation. In real work, Rosoboronexport has moved away almost 100% from settlements in the US currency. As for India, all settlements are carried out in rubles and rupees. In addition, we are actively practicing offset projects, which are also present in the contracts signed today. This is normal modern practice, one of the trends in the world market.”

With such an approach, the sides "do not face the risk of delays in payments when fulfilling our contractual obligations to our partners," he added.

It is worth mentioning that India's Foreign Minister announced Monday that Russia has begun delivering to his country the Russian S-400 ground-to-air missile defense system, against which the US threatened to impose sanctions. 

"Supplies have begun this month and will continue to happen," Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla confirmed after Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to New Delhi.

I warmly thank H.E. President Putin for his visit to India. We exchanged very useful ideas for expanding our strategic, trade & investment, energy, connectivity, defence, science & technology and cultural cooperation. We also shared views on important global and regional issues. pic.twitter.com/FQGFgQzsfX

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 6, 2021

Praising India at the beginning of his visit to New Delhi, Putin discussed defense agreements, military relations, and energy cooperation between the two countries.