Russia on Wednesday sought to rope in India as its partner in the campaign against unilateral sanctions used by the United States and its allies on other nations.
“Moscow and New Delhi are consistent opponents of neocolonial practices as illegitimate unilateral sanctions, threats, blackmail, and other types of pressure on sovereign states,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in New Delhi.
Lavrov arrived in New Delhi late on Tuesday. He had a bilateral meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday. He will attend the meeting of the G20 Foreign Ministers on Thursday. “A wide-ranging discussion with FM Sergey Lavrov of Russia on G20 FMM sidelines. Exchanged views on our bilateral cooperation and G20 issues,” Jaishankar tweeted after the meeting.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict is likely to overshadow the meeting of the G20 Foreign Ministers. The US and other western nations are set to use the forum to once again launch a tirade against Russia for its military aggression against Ukraine.
Lavrov said in New Delhi on Wednesday that Russia supported India in its endeavour for strengthening genuine multilateralism.
“We consistently stand for respect for the cultural and civilizational diversity of the modern world, for the inalienable right of peoples to independently determine their own paths of development,” said the Russian Foreign Minister.
New Delhi over the past 12 months has been drawing flak from the US and the other western nations, not only for refusing to join them in condemning Russia for its aggression against Ukraine – primarily in view of its decades-old strategic partnership with and its dependence on the former Soviet Union nation for military hardware. India is circumventing sanctions imposed by the US and the other western nations on Russia and continuing bilateral trade. It has also increased oil and coal imports from Russia.
(Published 02 March 2023, 04:43 IST)
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