NEW DELHI – Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Saturday said that Moscow is preparing for President Vladimir Putin’s official visit to India, scheduled to take place later this year.
Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, Lavrov said the visit is expected to happen in December and will focus on a wide-ranging bilateral agenda.
“In December, a visit from President Putin is being planned to New Delhi. We have a very extensive bilateral agenda—trade, military-technical cooperation, finance, humanitarian matters, healthcare, high-tech, artificial intelligence, and, of course, close coordination at the international level within the SCO, BRICS, and bilaterally,” Lavrov stated.
He also informed about the diplomatic exchanges that will continue at the ministerial level, with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar expected to visit Moscow this year, while Lavrov will travel to India.
“This year, my colleague Subrahmanyam Jaishankar—whom I spoke to yesterday—will visit Russia, and I will visit India. We hold regular exchanges,” he said.
As tensions between India and the United States escalated over New Delhi’s purchase of oil from Russia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov emphasized that India is “perfectly capable” of making its own decisions regarding trade relations, and stressed that Moscow does not interfere in India’s sovereign choices.
US President Donald Trump has imposed tariffs on Indian goods as punishment for New Delhi’s massive purchases of Russian oil, part of a campaign to pressure Moscow into ending its offensive in Ukraine.
Russia remains one of India’s leading arms suppliers, with their strategic relationship dating back to the Soviet era.
“I don’t even ask our Indian colleagues what is going to happen to our trade relations or our oil cooperation. They are perfectly capable of making these decisions for themselves,” he said.
Asserting that economic partnership between India and Russia is “not under threat., the Russian Foreign Minister also praised India’s stand on global issues, saying it reflects the country’s “self-respect.”
Referring to remarks previously made by Jaishankar on India’s energy trade, Lavrov added: “Publicly, my friend—whom I referenced earlier—when asked a similar question, said: ‘If the US wants to sell their oil to us, we are prepared to discuss the terms” But what we buy from other countries, not the United States, but from Russia or other countries, that’s our own business. And that has nothing to do with the Indian-US agenda. And I believe that that is a very worthy response that shows that India, like Turkey, has self-respect.”