Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov out of a number of foreign ministers who visited New Delhi, experts say, is a signal from New Delhi to the global community as to who its reliable and trusted partners are.
The meeting coincided with United Kingdom Foreign Minister Liz Truss and the United States Deputy National Security Advisor Daleep Singh being in New Delhi.
Talking to Asianet Newsable, Forum for Global Studies President and Russian Studies expert Dr Sandeep Tripathi said, “We need to see the timing of the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov when there is a war going on since over 36 days.”
The Russian foreign minister has come to India to convey President Vladimir Putin’s personal message to Prime Minister Modi. “It signifies that it is an essential and trusted partnership that we had already,” Dr Tripathi said.
It should be noted that Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who was in India about a week back, had sought Prime Minister Modi’s appointment but no time was given to him. He had to proceed to the next leg of his tour to Nepal after meeting his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar and NSA Ajit Doval.
Dr Tripathi said, “India knows which guest is important for it and that could be a reason why Wang Yi had to leave the country without meeting Modi.”
In the last 15 days, a couple of foreign ministers arrived in New Delhi to enhance their bilateral ties with India. Those foreign ministers were from the UK, China, Austria, Greece and Mexico.
A day after the US Deputy National Security Advisor Daleep Singh threatened consequences if India try to circumvent the sanctions. India on Friday announced that it has begun buying oil from Moscow. It should be mentioned that India has bought at least three to four days of supply.
Dr Sandeep Tripathi is of the view that selling the oil at discounted prices to India is a win-win situation for both countries amidst a slew of sanctions slapped on the Putin administration.
“Both countries are ready to go into the ruble-rupee mechanism. The agreement has almost been finalised to facilitate the bilateral trade between Moscow and New Delhi,” he said.
He further added that these developments signal that Russia occupies a special place in India’s foreign policy. “Moscow is very important for India for energy security as well as strategic interests.”
Commenting on the relationship with India, Lavrov has said that India-Russia rupee-ruble trade will be ‘intensified’. “I have no doubt. No pressure will affect our partnership. They (US) are forcing others to follow their politics,” the Russian minister said when asked if US pressure on India will affect Indo-Russian ties.