Russia and India are safeguarding their trade from the West – expert

The politicization of international commerce by the West incentivizes other nations, including Russia and India, to speed up their transition to alternative financial mechanisms that are not controlled by the US and its allies, political expert Ivan Timofeev has told RT.

Timofeev is the program director of the Valdai Discussion Club, a leading Russian foreign policy think tank. On Monday, it held a conference in New Delhi, which was organized jointly with the Vivekananda International Foundation, to discuss the ongoing transition to a multipolar world.

Russia’s trade with India has surged since 2022, when Western nations tried to further punish Moscow for the Ukraine conflict with an unprecedented number of new economic restrictions. According to Timofeev, these policies are speeding up the transition.

“Sanctions definitely stimulated the Russian search for alternative ways of life in the international order, in this world of competition and rivalry,” he told RT on the sidelines of the event in India.

“We have no other choice than to promote a new mechanism of financial transactions secured from politicization, from sanctions and other hostile actions,” he added.

Experience gained in protecting Russian trade with India from Western sabotage may, in the future, serve as a benchmark for diversifying international commerce, the expert suggested.