Jaishankar Meets Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, Discusses Ukraine, Economic Issues

Jaishankar met Lavrov on the sidelines of the ASEAN-India Ministerial in the Indonesian capital Jakarta.

External Affairs Minister Jaishankar with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov ( Image Source :Twitter/Jaishankar )

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who is in Indonesia to attend a meeting of the ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers, held talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov and discussed the Ukriane war as well as economic issues.

"Met with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov of Russia in Jakarta today. Discussed bilateral economic issues, as also matters pertaining to the Ukraine conflict," Jaishankar tweeted.

This is the second meeting between the two leaders in a month. In June, Jaishankar met Lavrov during the BRICS summit in South Africa.

The meeting comes amid India's increasing economic engagement with Russia in the last one year, largely due to its procurement of discounted Russian oil.

In the last few months, India has become a leading importer of discounted crude oil from Russia despite disquiet in the West.

While India has not yet condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which is into its 17th month now, it has been pushing for resolution of the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy.

Earlier in the day, Jaishankar held discussions with his ASEAN counterparts and reviewed the progress in cooperation in areas like fintech, food security and maritime domains, PTI reported.

He also met Singapore's Indian-origin Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan and discussed the implemention of the comprehensive strategic partnership.

"A warm and productive ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers meeting this morning. Thank @VivianBala for co-chairing it with me. Noted the progress in implementing our comprehensive strategic partnership. Discussed greater focus on digital, fintech, food security and maritime domains. Exchanged views on the situation in Myanmar," Jaishankar tweeted.

Jaishankar also met his counterpart from Brunei as well as Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi.

There was also a meeting with South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin, with whom Jaishankar discussed cooperation in critical and emerging technologies.

After Jakarta, Jaishankar will travel to Bangkok to participate in the 12th Foreign Ministers' Meeting of Mekong Ganga Cooperation (MGC) Mechanism on Sunday.