Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attended meetings with the leaders of India and China this week—two countries that have so far refrained from condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—as Moscow continues to be slapped with Western sanctions.
Lavrov was first in China where he met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Wednesday before flying out to New Delhi on Thursday where he is set to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Foreign Minister S Jaishankar on Friday.
The meetings come as the Kremlin tries to maintain close ties with the Asian powers after being dealt a series of sanctions from the U.S, EU, and the UK, following Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” in neighboring Ukraine which began on Feb. 24.
They also come as Russia looks to shore up support from both India and China as it becomes increasingly isolated from global financial systems and supply chains.
This is the first time Lavrov has visited China and India since the conflict in Ukraine began.
Earlier this month, China and India, both of whom enjoy close relations with Moscow, abstained from a vote on the United Nations resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and demanding that it immediately end its military operations in the country.
During his meeting with Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Lavrov said “friendship is the keyword” in the history of Indian and Russian bilateral relations while noting that “our Western colleagues would like to reduce a meaningful international issue to the crisis in Ukraine.”
“You know our position and we do not hide anything … we appreciate that India is taking this situation in the entirety of facts, and not in a one-sided way,” Lavrov said in his opening remarks during the meeting.”
“We continue to implement projects in the areas of energy, science and technology, outer space, pharmaceutical industry,” he said.
After Lavrov visited China this week, Beijing said it was “more determined” to develop bilateral ties with Russia.
“There is no ceiling for China-Russia cooperation, no ceiling for us to strive for peace, no ceiling for us to safeguard security and no ceiling for us to oppose hegemony,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin, according to state-run news agency Xinhua.
Both Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Lavrov also reportedly condemned what they called illegal and counter-productive Western sanctions imposed on Moscow over its actions in Ukraine, the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.
Lavrov’s visits to China and India come a day after U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser for International Economics, Daleep Singh, held talks in New Delhi to discuss the “consequences of Russia’s unjustified war against Ukraine and mitigating its impact on the global economy.”
“I come here in a spirit of friendship to explain the mechanisms of our sanctions, the importance of joining us, to express a shared resolve and to advance shared interests. And yes, there are consequences to countries that actively attempt to circumvent or backfill the sanctions,” Singh remarked during the meeting.
He also urged India not to help the Russian government undermine Western sanctions.
“We are very keen for all countries, especially our allies and partners, not to create mechanisms that prop up the [Russian] rouble, and those that attempt to undermine the dollar-based financial system,” he said.
British Foreign Minister Liz Truss also held a meeting with Indian officials this week as part of a “wider diplomatic push” following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The meeting “matters even more in the context of Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and underlines the need for free democracies to work closer together in areas” including cyber security and trade, among others, according to the statement.
India has pushed back against Western concerns, citing its need for Russian arms in its standoff with China.
