‘India has self-respect’: Lavrov defends New Delhi in Trump tariff saga, confirms Putin’s December visit

While speaking to the press after his speech at the United Nations General Assembly, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov confirmed that President Vladimir Putin will be visiting India in December and Moscow is preparing for the trip. Speaking to the Indian media, Lavrov noted that the bilateral agenda during the trip covered trade, defence, technology and cooperation across global platforms.

“In December, a visit from Mr 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,” said on Saturday in New York.

The Russian diplomat mentioned that External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar is expected to visit Moscow later this year, while he himself will travel to New Delhi as part of regular diplomatic exchanges between the two nations.

‘India has self-respect’: Lavrov

When asked about the trade between India and Russia, Lavrov stressed that Russia does not interfere in India’s choices. “I’m not even asking what is going to happen to our trade relations, our oil. I don’t ask our Indian colleagues this. They are perfectly capable of making these decisions for themselves,” he said.

He went on to laud India’s position in the whole situation of the Trump tariff saga, insisting that India has “self-respect”. The Russian foreign minister also pointed to Jaishankar’s remarks on India’s energy trade. “And publicly, my friend, whom I referenced earlier when he was asked a similar question, said, if the US wants to sell their oil to us, we are prepared to discuss the terms for this,” Lavrov said.

It is pertinent to note that the United States has repeatedly criticised India for continuing to buy oil from Russia amid the ongoing war in Ukraine. Not only this, Trump’s Trade Representative went ahead to accuse New Delhi of helping to fund Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Ukraine has maintained that India is not aligned with Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Fox News last week that New Delhi remains “mostly” on Ukraine’s side and urged the US and Europe to engage with India.

Meanwhile, Jaishankar eventually clarified India’s stance on the Trump tariff fiasco. “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 India-US agenda.” Lavrov called Jaishankar’s assertion a “very worthy response” and said that it showed that India, like Turkey, has “self-respect”.