Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov yesterday warned against any interference in Bangladesh's domestic matters."We can see and analyse the situation. The US and its allies are trying to promote their interests by using the so-called Indo-Pacific strategy. Their goal is clearly to counter China and Russia in this region," said Lavrov.

Russia will work with its partners in the region to prevent any attempt to establish diktats and interference by those who want to tell others what to do, he added.

"They are driven by their own interests."The Russian foreign minister was speaking at a media briefing at the Hotel Intercontinental upon arrival in Dhaka.

Lavrov, the first Russian foreign minister to visit Bangladesh, flew in after attending the East Asian Summit in Jakarta.The summit in Jakarta has "clearly shown that this insistent line of pushing through their own interest does not suit everybody's stakes," Lavrov said.

He also commented on Bangladesh's decision to use yuan, the Chinese currency, in paying back the loans for the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant."We are moving very fast to use a variety of systems that would be based on the national currency and not of the currency of countries who use it as a weapon."

The first shipment of nuclear fuel will arrive in Bangladesh in October, and the construction of the plant is progressing at an adequate pace, he added.Russia and Bangladesh have spoken about making a permanent deal regarding the possible supply of LNG, wheat and fertilisers from the former to the latter, said Lavrov.

A Russian journalist asked Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen why the country maintains a neutral stance against sanctions."We have a foreign policy - friendship to all and malice to none. We maintain a very balanced foreign policy. So we follow our own interest. Till today we are maintaining very independent and sovereign decisions in those. Our position is very simple. We don't want to see any proxy war in this region like in other countries. So we think we should resolve all the issues through peaceful dialogue and discussion," responded Momen.

Momen praised Russia for supporting Bangladesh's Liberation War.Lavrov will fly to New Delhi today to attend the G20 Summit after meeting Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the morning.