Lavrov urges India non-dollar trade

Sergey Lavrov used a May 13 interview with RT India and a Russian foreign ministry briefing ahead of talks in New Delhi to press a familiar Russian objective: trade arrangements with India that rely less on the dollar and are harder to disrupt with sanctions. The clearest verified language came from Russia’s foreign ministry, which said Lavrov and Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar would discuss “stable transport, logistical and financial channels protected from unlawful external pressures” during the visit. (mid.ru) The public record available on Thursday does not show Lavrov, in the official Russian transcript reviewed by Reuters-style reporting standards, explicitly using the phrases “rupee-rupee settlements” or “trade insurance mechanisms.” But the interview and the ministry’s preview place alternative payment channels at the center of the visit, alongside energy, technology and BRICS coordination. The issue matters because India and Russia have spent the past three years trying to keep trade moving while Western sanctions complicated dollar clearing, shipping and banking links. (mid.ru) India’s own background note on Russia says the two sides have set a target of $100 billion in bilateral trade by 2030, making payment mechanics a practical issue as well as a diplomatic one. ### What exactly did Lavrov say in the verified record? The May 13 interview published by Russia’s foreign ministry shows Lavrov presenting the India relationship as broader than oil and defense and tied to long-term economic planning through 2030. (mid.ru) In the excerpt available from the ministry, he pointed to programs adopted during Vladimir Putin’s December 2025 visit to New Delhi covering strategic economic cooperation and military-technical cooperation through 2030. The May 12 ministry press release was more direct on the payments question. (mea.gov.in) It said Lavrov and Jaishankar would discuss boosting trade and creating financial channels insulated from “unlawful external pressures,” language Russia has repeatedly used for sanctions-related restrictions. ### Why is the dollar question coming up again now? Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 reshaped its trade settlement routes, and India’s purchases of discounted Russian crude sharply increased afterward. That created a recurring problem: Russia earned large rupee balances from sales to India, but the rupee’s limited convertibility made it harder to redeploy those funds outside India. (mid.ru) March 19 added a fresh sign that the issue remains active. Bloomberg reported that Reserve Bank of India official N. (mid.ru) Senthil Kumar said the central bank was exploring additional ways for Russia to use accumulated rupee reserves in the Indian economy. ### Has India already built rupee settlement channels? The Reserve Bank of India introduced a framework in 2022 for settling international trade in rupees, and Indian officials later expanded the use of special rupee vostro accounts for foreign banks. (zawya.com) Reporting in 2025 said those steps were meant to speed rupee-based trade with Russia and reduce dependence on the dollar, though trade imbalances and currency volatility remained obstacles. (bloomberg.com) Indian and Russian officials have also described the trade relationship as increasingly institutionalized. India’s foreign ministry says the India-Russia Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation is a central mechanism for follow-up on economic issues. ### Did India publicly endorse Lavrov’s push? India’s foreign ministry website was not accessible through the web tool because of robots restrictions, and no verified Indian readout of the May 13 talks was available in the material reviewed here. (economictimes.indiatimes.com) That means the public evidence currently supports reporting Lavrov’s position and Russia’s official framing, but not a matching Indian endorsement of specific non-dollar mechanisms. The December 2025 India-Russia summit statement does show both governments backing deeper trade and investment ties and reaffirming their “Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership.” But the excerpt reviewed does not provide a fresh Indian commitment on May 13 to any particular rupee-settlement formula. (mea.gov.in) ### What comes next in the Russia-India process? Russia’s May 12 briefing said Lavrov and Jaishankar would prepare for leaders’ talks in Russia and for the next meeting of the intergovernmental commission on trade, economic, scientific, technological and cultural cooperation. (mid.ru) India’s official background note identifies that commission as the main standing channel for economic coordination between the two countries. The next benchmark remains the broader 2030 economic program cited by Lavrov and the $100 billion bilateral trade target cited in Indian materials. (pmindia.gov.in) Any concrete shift on rupee settlement, reserve use or trade-risk cover is most likely to surface in future readouts from that commission, central bank guidance, or statements tied to the next leaders’ meeting. (mid.ru 1) (mid.ru 2)