Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday slammed Europe’s plan to sanction Moscow’s economic partners, including India and China, saying the move reflects a “colonial mindset” and could carry political costs for their leaders.
Speaking to reporters after the SCO summit, Putin said: “You have countries like India, with almost 1.5 billion people, China, with powerful economies, but they also have their own domestic political mechanisms and laws,” he said. “So when somebody tells you that they’re going to punish you, you have to think how can the leadership of those countries … which had difficult periods in their history too, that had to do with colonialism, with attacks on their sovereignty … if one of them shows weakness, his political career will be over. So that influences his behavior. Just as the colonial era is now over, they have to realise that they cannot use this term in speaking with their partners.”
Putin said he was confident diplomacy would eventually prevail. “But ultimately, things will be sorted out, everything will take its place, and we will see a normal political dialogue again,” he added.
The Russian President argued that the Ukraine war was being used as a “pretext” for wider restrictions on trade, pointing to new tariffs imposed by the United States on multiple countries.
“Well, surprisingly enough, we almost didn’t mention this in our conversations because it’s not really something that concerns us. Because the Ukraine situation is only a pretext to take various steps against countries that have economic ties with us,” he said.
Putin noted that Brazil had faced additional tariffs in early August despite having no direct connection to the 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,” he said.
New Delhi is facing global uncertainties due to heightened economic tensions following the US imposition of a 50 per cent tariff on Indian imports, including an additional 25 per cent penalty linked to its purchase of Russian crude oil — which, according to Washington, fuels Moscow’s efforts in the Ukraine conflict.
ANI