Jaishankar meets Russian counterpart Lavrov in Moscow, Ukraine war features in talks

Image Source : ANI The meeting comes amid Russia being criticised by the West for the ongoing War in Ukraine

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday held talks in Moscow. Both ministers discussed a range of bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest during the meet.

“Our meeting today is devoted to assessing state of our bilateral cooperation, exchange in perspectives on international situation and what that means to our respective interests. We would be discussing how our shared goals are best achieved,”- News agency ANI quoted External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar as saying giving source to Russia's Ruptly News Agency.
“There have been strong and continuing contacts between our governments at various levels. PM Modi and President Putin met recently in Samarkand this September and our Defence ministers spoke to each other,” he added.
“I believe this is the 5th time, we're meeting this year and that speaks of long-term partnership and the importance we attach to each other. I'm really glad to be here in Moscow today to carry forward this dialogue,” said EAM Dr S Jaishankar in Moscow.
“We coordinate our actions in international organizations such as UNSC where India is now a non-permanent member... all this is enriching our agenda and I'm confident that today we are going to have a good conversation about all this,” he added.
“With the changes the international community is going through, it's important to compare our notes, our assessments integrally on how we are going to work on the goals set by the Russian President and PM of India on economy, trade, investments, tech sphere,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Jaishankar and Lavrov have already met four times after the Ukraine conflict began in February.
Since the Ukraine conflict began, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken to Russian President Putin as well as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a number of times.
In a phone conversation with Zelenskyy on October 4, Modi said there can be "no military solution" and that India is ready to contribute to any peace efforts.
At a bilateral meeting with Putin in the Uzbek city of Samarkand on September 16, Modi told him that "today's era is not of war".
India has not yet condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and it has been maintaining that the crisis must be resolved through diplomacy and dialogue.