India and Russia on Monday were one in stating that the bilateral relationship and cooperation in multilateral fora contribute to greater stability at the regional and global levels, underscoring this at a time when the US is piling pressure on New Delhi to cut back on oil purchases from Moscow.
“India-Russia ties have long been a factor of stability in international relations. Its growth and evolution is not only in our mutual interest but also in that of the world," Jaishankar said in his opening remarks at his sixth bilateral meeting this year with Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow on Monday evening.
Earlier, while welcoming Jaishankar, the Russian foreign minister had said the cooperation between India and Russia in multilateral fora like the UN, BRICS, SCO and the G20 had contributed to greater stability at the regional and global levels.
The latest bilateral meeting comes three weeks ahead of the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to India in December for the India-Russia Annual Summit. While bilateral and global issues were discussed, the main agenda was to prepare for the New Delhi summit meeting between Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Laying out his priorities apart from the annual summit, Jaishankar said: “We will also be exchanging views on the complex global situation with the openness that has always characterised our ties. This includes the Ukraine conflict, as also the Middle East and Afghanistan, amongst others. India supports recent efforts towards establishing peace. We hope that all parties approach that goal constructively. An early cessation of the conflict and the ensuring of an enduring peace is in the interest of the entire international community.”
Stating that India and Russia hope to enhance the items that constitute mutual trade, Lavorv said mechanisms were also put in place to ensure that “we are not hindered by illegitimate impact imposed by certain other countries”, an apparent reference to Western sanctions on Russia for the war against Ukraine.
Lavrov also stressed the importance of the International North-South Transport Corridor — the multi-modal trade route connecting India, Iran, Russia, Central Asia and Europe — and the Northern Sea Route, a 5,600km shipping corridor along the Russian Arctic coast in which New Delhi is collaborating with Moscow.