Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that India has been under “huge pressure” from global powers due to its energy ties with Russia, calling it “absolutely groundless.”
“India, I think, is a very powerful country, which defines and chooses its own national interests. And we know that India is expose to enormous pressure – absolutely unjustified pressure on the international arena,” Lavrov added.
Lavrov was speaking on concerns over PM Narendra Modi’s recent trip to Moscow and issues surrounding India’s energy relations with Russia.
He called Ukraine’s comments regarding India after the Russian visit of PM Modi as “insulting”.
“Russian projectile hit Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital for young cancer patients. Many were burie under the rubble. It is a great disappointment and a slap in the face of the world peace process when you see the leader of the world’s largest democracy hugging his most bloody criminal friend in Moscow on such day,” said Ukrainian President Zelenskyy.
Lavrov spoke about Ukrainian ambassadors being “rowdies”, saying that: “So it was pretty insulting and he was called in” and Indian Ministry of External Affairs “spoke to him about how he should behave.”
‘West shows disappointment towards nations like China & India’
“The West, however, shows their distaste towards countries – like China or India – but this indicates their ignorance; they don’t really understand what diplomacy means; it also demonstrates failure among political analysts. Because doing so with respect to these major Asian powers…well one can dream about it, but in truth it is beneath them. This kind of attitude serves no purpose whatsoever vis-à-vis any country at all but especially when talking this way to these two behemoths.” He added
Concerning Indian oil purchases from Russia, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar had stated that his main priority was to protect Indian citizens from having to bear any burden arising out of actions by other nations or areas when it comes to essential commodities like fertilizers and food.
“It is not that we only buy oil from one country. We get our oil from many sources, but it is sensible policy for us to go where we can get the best deal in terms of the interests of the Indian people and that’s exactly what we’re trying to do,” Jaishankar had said.
