Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will visit India on a two-day visit starting tomorrow, the government said today. The visit would be the highest-level visit from Moscow since Vladimir Putin‘s attack on Ukraine.
“Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, H.E. Mr. Sergey Lavrov will pay an official visit to New Delhi on 31 March -1 April 2022,” the government said in a press release.
Lavrov’s visit follows Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Delhi last week, the first in over two years.
Despite mounting pressure from the West, China and India haven’t condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
India also abstained from UN resolutions censuring Russia and continues to buy Russian oil and other goods.
India and Russia have had a close relationship for decades. New Delhi, which describes Moscow as its “longstanding and time-tested friend”, sources most of its key military hardware from Russia.
The foreign ministry has not given any details on whom the Russian leader would meet on his trip, which coincides with visits by British foreign secretary Liz Truss and US Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics Daleep Singh.