India great power:Slamming pressure over Moscow ties, the Russian Foreign Minister
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov praised India as a great power that independently determines its national interests and selects its partners. At a United Nations press conference on Wednesday, Lavrov described the “enormous pressure” on New Delhi over its energy cooperation with Moscow as “completely unjustified.”
“I believe India is a great power that establishes its national interests, decides its national interests, and chooses its partners. India is currently facing enormous and completely unjustified pressure in the international arena,” Lavrov stated.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made these remarks while responding to a question about Prime Minister Modi’s recent visit to Moscow and the criticism India faced for its energy cooperation with Russia.
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Prime Minister Modi visited Russia on July 8-9 at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin for the 22nd India-Russia Annual Summit. This marked PM Modi’s first trip to Russia since the onset of the Ukraine conflict.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed displeasure over PM Modi’s visit, criticizing it in a post on X. He stated, “A Russian missile struck the largest children’s hospital in Ukraine, targeting young cancer patients. Under the debris, many people were buried.”
Regarding the Modi-Putin encounter, Zelenskyy said, “It is a huge disappointment and a devastating blow to peace efforts to see the leader of the world’s largest democracy hug the world’s most bloody criminal in Moscow on such a day.”
In response to Zelenskyy’s remarks, Lavrov said, “That was very insulting, and the Ukrainian ambassador was summoned.” The Indian Ministry of External Affairs “spoke to him about appropriate conduct.”Some Ukrainian ambassadors have been behaving like hooligans,” Lavrov remarked regarding other Ukrainian envoys’ comments.”So, I believe India is handling everything correctly,” the Russian Foreign Minister concluded.
