Jaishankar holds talk with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar Tuesday held talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow. Both leaders spoke on a wide range of issues pertaining to bilateral, regional and global matters.
Jaishakar arrived in the Russian Moscow on Monday evening. This is the fifth meeting between both leaders after the Ukraine conflict began in February.
His visit assumes significance as it comes days before the G-20 summit in Bali, scheduled for November 15-16. This will be the first time since the war broke out in Ukraine that Putin and the western leaders, including US President Joe Biden, will be in the same room.
Jaishankar’s trip is being seen as a key moment, where Delhi is being billed as a potential negotiator between Russia and Ukraine. He had last visited Moscow in July 2021. It is learnt that India has intervened quietly in the past few months, when there has been a deadlock. In July, India had weighed in with Russia on the grain shipment from ports in the Black Sea.
In the run-up to Jaishankar’s visit, Putin has been effusive about Modi and India. He had praised India by calling its citizens “talented” and “driven”, a week after he showered praises on Modi and called him a “true patriot”.
On the Ukraine conflict, India has been maintaining that the crisis should be resolved through diplomacy and dialogue and has not yet officially condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine. At a bilateral meeting with Putin in the Uzbek city of Samarkand on September 16, Modi had told him that “today’s era is not of war”.
With PTI inputs
