By News18,Shankhyaneel Sarkar

Copyright news18

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, speaking to Indian media on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, said Moscow is preparing for President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India later this year. He noted that the bilateral agenda covers trade, defence, technology and cooperation across global platforms.
“In December, a visit from Mr Putin is being planned to New Delhi. We have a very extensive bilateral agenda, trade, military, technical cooperation, finance, humanitarian matters, healthcare, high-tech, artificial intelligence, and of course close coordination at the international level within the SCO, BRICS and bilaterally,” Lavrov said.
He said that External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is expected to visit Moscow this year, while he himself will travel to New Delhi as part of the regular diplomatic exchanges between the two nations.
On trade, particularly energy ties, Lavrov stressed that Russia does not interfere in India’s choices. “I’m not even asking what is going to happen to our trade relations, our oil. I don’t ask our Indian colleagues this. They are perfectly capable of making these decisions for themselves,” he said.
The Russian Foreign Minister also praised India’s position, saying it reflects that the country has “self-respect”.
Lavrov pointed to Jaishankar’s earlier remarks on India’s energy trade. “And publicly, my friend, whom I referenced earlier when he was asked a similar question, said, if the US wants to sell their oil to us, we are prepared to discuss the terms for this,” Lavrov said.
The US has repeatedly criticised India for continuing to buy Russian oil, even accusing New Delhi of helping to fund Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine.
Kyiv, however, has maintained that India is not aligned with Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Fox News last week that New Delhi remains “mostly” on Ukraine’s side and urged the US and Europe to engage with India on questions related to the energy sector.
Jaishankar had clarified India’s position, stating: “But what we buy from other countries, not the United States, but from Russia or other countries, that’s our own business. And that has nothing to do with the India-US agenda.”
Lavrov called that a “very worthy response” and said it showed that India, like Turkey, has “self-respect.”