Russian Ambassador Denis Alipov has claimed that a senior US official publicly acknowledged that Washington would not allow India to develop into another China — a competitor — describing the remark as a “Freudian slip”.

Speaking at the NDTV Defence Summit on Sunday (27 September), Alipov claimed the comment had been made during this year’s Raisina Dialogue in the national capital.

“I think this year at the Raisina Dialogue, one of the top US officials revealed and spoke publicly that the ‘US will never allow India to become the next China’ as a competitor. It was like a Freudian slip,” Alipov said. “So as India becomes stronger and stronger, and eventually a superpower — which is inevitable — the US would be doing everything possible to contain India. And so, we regard this measure, the Graham Act, as such.”

The Graham Act or the Lindsey O Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, is a recently introduced US law signed by Donald Trump which is designed to increase economic pressure on Russia and strengthen sanctions against Iran.