by Press Trust of IndiaExternal Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in South Africa and discussed issues of bilateral and global interests.
Jaishankar, who is here to attend a summit of the five-nation group BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa), held talks with Lavrov on the sidelines of the BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting.
In a tweet, Jaishankar said, “Nice to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Cape Town this morning on the sidelines of BRICS FMM. Our discussions included bilateral matters, BRICS, G20 and SCO.”
India will hold Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and G-20 Summit in July and September respectively.
In the last few months, India becomes major importer of subsidized crude oil from Russia Despite growing resentment in the West over the purchase in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
India’s economic ties with Russia have grown massively in the last one year, mainly due to the purchase of subsidized oil from Russia.
India has not yet condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and is pushing for a resolution of the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy.
On Wednesday, Jaishankar said it was still “early days” for a resolution to the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, as at present, the focus was on issues related to the grain corridor, nuclear issues and exchange of prisoners of war. Has gone.
In an interview with DD India, Jaishankar said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had met both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
(Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) brings together the world’s five largest developing countries, representing 41 percent of the global population, 24 percent of global GDP and 16 percent of global trade.
Jaishankar is also expected to hold bilateral meetings with his other BRICS counterparts.