INDIA RUSSIA TALKS

• Russia is India’s “steady and time-tested partner”, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, defending the 20-fold increase in India’s oil imports from the country this year, said after meetings with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Deputy Prime Minister and Trade Minister Denis Manturov in Moscow on Tuesday.
• Laying out India’s position on the Ukraine crisis, which Mr. Lavrov said Russia had “highly appreciated”, Mr. Jaishankar repeated Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s words that “this is not an era of war”, and called for dialogue and diplomacy between Moscow and Kiev.
• However, while Mr. Jaishankar said India was ready to support any initiative to “de-risk” the situation in Ukraine and promote global stability, he did not make any specific offer to mediate in Russia-Ukraine talks.
• “Any objective evaluation of our relationship over many decades would confirm that it has actually served both our countries very, very well…,” Mr. Jaishankar said at a press conference after talks with Mr. Lavrov, in response to a question about pressure from Western countries to reduce oil imports and join a price-cap coalition announced by G-7 countries.
• “As the world’s third largest consumer of oil and gas, a consumer where the levels of income are not very high, it is our fundamental obligation to ensure that the Indian consumer has the best possible access on the most advantageous terms to international markets.
• And in that respect, quite honestly, we have seen that the India-Russia relationship has worked to our advantage,” Mr. Jaishankar added, but pointed out that the Global South (developing and underdeveloped countries) had “felt the pain quite acutely” of the food and energy issues arising from the Ukraine conflict.
• Referring to U.S. and European sanctions on Russia, Mr. Lavrov said he had briefed Mr. Jaishankar on “military operations” in Ukraine.
• “We discussed the situation that has developed around the attempts of the Western colleagues, under the pretext of Ukrainian events, to strengthen their dominant role in world affairs and prevent the democratisation of international relations,” Mr. Lavrov said.
• Both Foreign Ministers also noted the “significant growth” in India-Russia bilateral trade this year to about $17 billion, recommitting to a goal of reaching $30 billion by 2025, and agreed to strengthen cooperation on joint military exports, as well as in the areas of oil exploration, nuclear energy and space.

SOURCE: THE HINDU, THE ECONOMIC TIMES, PIB