Russia's partners to disregard oil price caps - Lavrov

MOSCOW. Dec 1 (Interfax) - Moscow does not care what the price cap for Russian oil will be, as it plans to reach direct agreements with its partners, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday.

"We have no interest in what the price cap will be. We will reach direct agreements with our partners. The partners working with us will disregard these caps and will give no guarantees to those who impose such caps illegally," Lavrov said at a press conference.

"Every time we negotiate with China, India, Turkey and other big buyers of ours, there is an element of balancing interests in terms of time, volume and prices," he said.

"However, decisions need to be mutual, between the producer and the buyer, rather than made by a guy wishing to punish someone," Lavrov said.

"This is not about earning a bit more from selling our oil. It's just that we need to start building a system independent from these neo-colonial methods. This is what we are doing together with BRICS colleagues and about a dozen other countries that wish to coordinate their efforts with BRICS. We are doing so in the SCO and, clearly, in the EAEU, alongside bilateral relations with China, Iran, India and other countries," Lavrov said.

Russia has said at various levels that it "will not be supplying oil to the countries who would follow the lead of dictators," he said.