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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is expected to sojourn Delhi this month, adjacent arsenic a contention brewed implicit Russia repeating U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim, that India has denied, that Washington mediated the India-Pakistan ceasefire past month.
This is the archetypal sojourn to India by a Foreign Minister from 1 of the UN Security Council’s imperishable subordinate nations since Operation Sindoor. Diplomatic sources suggested that Mr. Lavrov could question arsenic aboriginal arsenic adjacent week, to sermon strategical and economical ties with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar.
Significantly, Mr. Lavrov volition beryllium arriving successful India aft a gathering with Pakistan’s Special Advisor to the Prime Minister Syed Tariq Fatemi successful Moscow connected Tuesday, and earlier a imaginable gathering betwixt Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin successful July if some leaders question to the upcoming BRICS acme successful Brazil.
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India denies mediation claim
On Thursday, however, a remark by Mr. Putin’s adjutant Yuri Ushakov raised eyebrows. While speaking astir Mr. Trump’s speech with Mr. Putin connected Ukraine, helium mentioned that different issues were besides discussed, including the Middle East, “as good arsenic the equipped struggle betwixt India and Pakistan, which has been halted with the idiosyncratic engagement of President Trump.”
When asked, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that it had “clarified [India’s] presumption just and square” astir the four-day struggle aft India launched strikes connected Pakistan’s panic infrastructure successful Operation Sindoor connected May 7. “The cessation of hostilities (May 10) happened bilaterally and was done by the 2 DGMOs [Directors General of Military Operations],” the MEA spokesperson said connected Thursday.
Despite the accordant denials, Mr. Trump and U.S. authorities officials person said much than a twelve times, including successful a sworn submission successful a U.S. court, that the U.S. had “mediated” betwixt the 2 sides, utilizing commercialized arsenic “leverage” to guarantee an extremity to hostilities. It is unclear whether Mr. Ushakov simply repeated Mr. Trump’s claims during the speech with Mr. Putin ad verbatim, oregon whether Russia had immoderate different root of accusation connected the subject, but officials are expected to clarify India’s presumption again during Mr. Lavrov’s visit.
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‘Game changer successful economical ties’
Apart from discussing the details of Operation Sindoor, wherever the occurrence of Indian subject hardware — including those supplied by Russia, specified arsenic the S-400 aerial defence systems — was seen, Mr. Lavrov is expected to telephone for speeding up Free Trade Agreement (FTA) talks betwixt India and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), the sources said.
The EAEU, which includes Russia and the erstwhile Soviet states of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, is simply a communal marketplace and customs national that has been successful talks with India since 2015. In January 2025, the authorities said that “India is finalising the presumption of reference” for the FTA. Talks person been bolstered by the seven-fold emergence successful India-Russia bilateral commercialized from 2021 to astir US $70 cardinal successful 2024, chiefly owed to Indian purchases of Russian oil, contempt occidental sanctions.
Russian Deputy Chief of Mission Roman Babushkin told journalists that the EAEU-India FTA is the “need of the hour”, a “turning point”, and a “game changer” successful economical ties.
“The acceleration of the FTA talks was 1 of the astir important topics connected the docket erstwhile PM Modi and President Putin met successful Moscow successful 2024,” Mr. Babushkin said, adding that India and Russia had since made advancement connected issues similar outgo mechanisms, insurance, and banking facilities.
Published - June 05, 2025 10:29 p.m. IST
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