Kremlin pressures India, threatens to disrupt joint projects - Bloomberg

The Kremlin is putting pressure on governments of various countries, including India, threatening to cancel defense and energy deals if they do not help prevent Russia from being blacklisted. FATF (an intergovernmental organization that develops global standards for combating money laundering and terrorist financing).

Source. Bloomberg

The Russian side has warned its counterparts in India about "a cascade of unpredictable and negative consequences for cooperation in the defense, energy and transportation sectors if the FATF takes new measures against Russia," Bloomberg reports.

As the agency found out, among the Russian-Indian projects that will be at risk if additional measures are taken against Russia are

• cooperation between Rosneft and Nayara Energy Limited,
• exports of Russian weapons and military equipment to India, as well as technical cooperation in the field of defense,
• Russian proposals for new joint aviation projects presented at the Aero India 2023 exhibition,
• technological and energy cooperation at nuclear power plants in India,
• an agreement between Russian Railways Logistics and the Indian Container Corporation on cargo transportation services in connection with the development of the North-South trade corridor.

The FATF has previously suspended Russia's membership, but Ukraine insists that the organization impose additional restrictions.

According to Bloomberg, putting Russia on the FATF blacklist would put Putin's government on a par with North Korea, Iran and Myanmar (so far, only these countries have this status) and plunge the Russian economy into even greater isolation.

It is not yet known whether India has responded to Russia's warnings, and the governments of both countries did not respond to requests for comment.