India, June 3 -- India's decision to purchase Russian arms and to pursue a closer BRICS partnership have rubbed America the wrong way, argued the country's Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Tuesday.

"There were certain things that the Indian government did that generally rubbed the United States the wrong way. For instance, you generally buy your military gear from Russia. That's a way to kind of get under the skin of America if you're going to buy your armaments from Russia. I think India is starting to move towards buying military equipment from the United States, which then goes a long way. And these kind of things - just creating that relationship being a part of BRICS - which is, oh, let's move to not support the dollar and dolla...