Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has pledged that agreements on energy supplies to India will be fulfilled despite unfair external competition, as he underlined that the relations between the two countries are based on friendship and there is no scenario in which their paths would diverge.

In an interview with Russia Today-India ahead of his visit to New Delhi this week, Mr. Lavrov also praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he is one of the most energetic leaders the world has ever seen.

“I can guarantee that India’s interests as they apply to Russian supplies will not suffer. We will do everything to ensure that this unfair and dishonest competition does not damage our agreements,” he said.

Mr. Lavrov pointed out that Russia has never failed to fulfil its obligations to India or anyone else when it comes to energy supplies.

“The Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant is our flagship project. It meets a significant share of India’s needs,” he said. “Cooperation on the construction of new power units for this nuclear plant is continuing. Even so, India needs more. We continue supplying hydrocarbons such as gas, oil, and coal.”

The Kudankulam nuclear power plant is being built in Tamil Nadu with the technical assistance of Russia. The construction began in March 2002. Since February 2016, the first power unit of the Kudankulam NPP has been steadily operating at its design capacity of 1,000 MW.

The plant is expected to start operating at full capacity in 2027, according to Russian state media.

Mr. Lavrov said Prime Minister Modi is “one of the most energetic leaders the world has ever known.”

“He possesses great energy and channels it towards extremely important goals such as achieving maximum sovereignty across all spheres: the economy, the military, defence, culture, and the preservation of India’s civilisational wealth, which is unmatched by any other country.”

Mr. Lavrov said the relations between India and Russia are based on friendship and there is no scenario in which their paths would diverge.

“There isn’t just one word for these relations. Not because human languages aren’t rich enough, but because it is hard to imagine a relationship so full and deep,” he said while replying to a question.

“A situation where our paths diverge simply does not exist — it is unthinkable. We began our conversation with the very foundation of Russian-Indian relations: friendship,” Mr. Lavrov noted.

Stating that ‘Hindi-Rusi bhai bhai’ (Indians and Russians are brothers), Mr. Lavrov said that’s not just a fun slogan to chant, it has become part of our culture.

“Indian cinema, Raj Kapoor, more recent television series and films — they are immensely popular in Russia, everywhere, in every corner. The economy, joint energy production, military cooperation, nuclear and other forms of energy, cultural and humanitarian ties, and a high-level political dialogue marked by unprecedented trust — all of it is rock solid,” he said.

“So anyone worried about the future of Russia-India friendship can rest assured. We must always be aware of the threats that some are posing to our relations, trying to undermine them, creating closed structures, and making attempts to impose their own rules on how to deal with Russia. We see all of that, and so do our Indian friends. That makes it all the more valuable that those attempts keep failing,” Mr. Lavrov added.

During his visit to India, Mr. Lavrov will hold talks with his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar and attend the BRICS Foreign Ministers’ meeting. The two Ministers will exchange views on current international and regional issues, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“Special attention is expected to be paid to the situation in the Middle East. The Ministers are also expected to compare notes on cooperation within the UN, BRICS and the G20,” it added.

It said that the two Ministers will discuss a wide range of priority areas of bilateral cooperation.

“These include expanding trade, intensifying efforts to build sustainable transport, logistics, and financial channels protected from unlawful external pressure, deepening energy cooperation, and increasing collaboration in science and space technology,” the Ministry said.

Published – May 14, 2026 07:01 am IST

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has pledged that agreements on energy supplies to India will be fulfilled despite unfair external competition, as he underlined that the relations between the two countries are based on friendship and there is no scenario in which their paths would diverge.

In an interview with Russia Today-India ahead of his visit to New Delhi this week, Mr. Lavrov also praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he is one of the most energetic leaders the world has ever seen.

“I can guarantee that India’s interests as they apply to Russian supplies will not suffer. We will do everything to ensure that this unfair and dishonest competition does not damage our agreements,” he said.

Mr. Lavrov pointed out that Russia has never failed to fulfil its obligations to India or anyone else when it comes to energy supplies.

“The Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant is our flagship project. It meets a significant share of India’s needs,” he said. “Cooperation on the construction of new power units for this nuclear plant is continuing. Even so, India needs more. We continue supplying hydrocarbons such as gas, oil, and coal.”

The Kudankulam nuclear power plant is being built in Tamil Nadu with the technical assistance of Russia. The construction began in March 2002. Since February 2016, the first power unit of the Kudankulam NPP has been steadily operating at its design capacity of 1,000 MW.

The plant is expected to start operating at full capacity in 2027, according to Russian state media.

Mr. Lavrov said Prime Minister Modi is “one of the most energetic leaders the world has ever known.”

“He possesses great energy and channels it towards extremely important goals such as achieving maximum sovereignty across all spheres: the economy, the military, defence, culture, and the preservation of India’s civilisational wealth, which is unmatched by any other country.”

Mr. Lavrov said the relations between India and Russia are based on friendship and there is no scenario in which their paths would diverge.

“There isn’t just one word for these relations. Not because human languages aren’t rich enough, but because it is hard to imagine a relationship so full and deep,” he said while replying to a question.

“A situation where our paths diverge simply does not exist — it is unthinkable. We began our conversation with the very foundation of Russian-Indian relations: friendship,” Mr. Lavrov noted.

Stating that ‘Hindi-Rusi bhai bhai’ (Indians and Russians are brothers), Mr. Lavrov said that’s not just a fun slogan to chant, it has become part of our culture.

“Indian cinema, Raj Kapoor, more recent television series and films — they are immensely popular in Russia, everywhere, in every corner. The economy, joint energy production, military cooperation, nuclear and other forms of energy, cultural and humanitarian ties, and a high-level political dialogue marked by unprecedented trust — all of it is rock solid,” he said.

“So anyone worried about the future of Russia-India friendship can rest assured. We must always be aware of the threats that some are posing to our relations, trying to undermine them, creating closed structures, and making attempts to impose their own rules on how to deal with Russia. We see all of that, and so do our Indian friends. That makes it all the more valuable that those attempts keep failing,” Mr. Lavrov added.

During his visit to India, Mr. Lavrov will hold talks with his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar and attend the BRICS Foreign Ministers’ meeting. The two Ministers will exchange views on current international and regional issues, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“Special attention is expected to be paid to the situation in the Middle East. The Ministers are also expected to compare notes on cooperation within the UN, BRICS and the G20,” it added.

It said that the two Ministers will discuss a wide range of priority areas of bilateral cooperation.

“These include expanding trade, intensifying efforts to build sustainable transport, logistics, and financial channels protected from unlawful external pressure, deepening energy cooperation, and increasing collaboration in science and space technology,” the Ministry said.

Published – May 14, 2026 07:01 am IST

China stands ready to work with Russia and India to continue promoting the development of bilateral relations, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The India-Russia partnership has been among the “steadiest big relationships” in the last 70-80 years, and President Vladimir Putin’s visit to New Delhi was about “reimagining” the ties with a focus on economic engagement, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said on Saturday (December 6, 2025).

In an interactive session, he also disagreed with views that Mr. Putin’s visit could complicate India’s negotiations with the U.S. on a bilateral trade agreement.

“No, I disagree with you. I think everybody knows that India has relations with all the major countries in the world,” Mr. Jaishankar said at a media summit in Delhi.

“I think for any country to expect to have a veto or a say in how we develop our relations with others is not a reasonable proposition.”

Mr. Jaishankar was asked if Mr. Putin’s two-day visit to New Delhi that focused largely on significantly enhancing the economic dimension of India-Russia ties will have a bearing on the negotiations with the U.S. for the proposed trade deal.

“Because remember, the others can expect the same. I think we’ve always made it very clear that we have multiple relationships. We have a freedom of choice,” he said.

“We talk about what is called strategic autonomy and that continues and I cannot imagine why anybody would have reason to expect the contrary,” he added.

The External Affairs Minister (EAM) acknowledged that the focus of the Trump administration has been on trade and noted that India’s approach in navigating it is totally driven by national interests.

“I think clearly right now trade is the most important issue there. We have, it’s clearly very central to the thinking in Washington, much more than it was to earlier administrations, which is something which we have recognised, and we are prepared to meet,” he said.

“But we are prepared to meet it on reasonable terms. I mean, for those of you who think that diplomacy is about pleasing somebody else I’m sorry, that’s not my view of diplomacy. I mean, to me, it is about defending our national interests,” he said.

The India-U.S. relations are going through possibly the worst phase in the last two decades after Washington imposed a whopping 50% tariff on Indian goods, including 25% levies for New Delhi’s procurement of Russian crude oil.

The two sides are currently holding negotiations for the proposed a trade deal “We believe that there can be a landing point for our respective trade interests. Obviously, that is something which will be negotiated hard because it has an implication for livelihoods in this country,” he said.

“At the end of the day, for us the interests of the workers and the farmers and the small business and the middle-class matters. When we look at a trade agreement with a country like the U.S., you have to be extremely judicious about your position, about what you put on the table,” he said.

On President Putin’s two-day trip to India, Mr. Jaishankar said for a “big” and “rising” country like India, it is important to maintain good cooperation with as many important players as possible in the world in line with freedom of choice.

“I think if you look at India-Russia, the world has seen a lot of ups and downs in the last 70-80 years. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, India, Russia have actually been among the steadiest big relationships, big power or big country relationships in the world,” he said.

“Even Russia’s own relationship with China or U.S. or Europe has had its ups and downs. Our relationships with many of these countries have had it too,” he added.

In any relationship, Mr. Jaishankar noted, it is natural that some aspects of it develop and some kind of don’t keep up.

“In the case of Russia, what had happened for a variety of reasons, I think they visualised the West and China as their primary economic partners. We visualised perhaps the same. So, the economic side of the relationship had somehow not kept pace. You can see that in the numbers,” he said.

Mr. Putin’s visit in many ways was about reimagining the relationship, he said.

“It was about building dimensions and facets which it lacked or didn’t have in enough measure. if I were to pick two or three big takeaways, for me, the mobility agreement where Indians would now much more seamlessly find work opportunities in Russia was one big outcome,” he added.

The understanding on a joint venture on fertilisers was another major take away, according to Mr. Jaishankar.

“We are the world’s second biggest fertiliser importer after Brazil. It’s a recurring issue that we have. And also, because the fertiliser sources have been very unstable. They’ve turned on and turned off the tap. So, we had an agreement to create an important substantial joint venture on fertilisers,” he said.

On India’s ties with China, Mr. Jaishankar said the key point that New Delhi made was that peace and tranquillity in the border areas is a prerequisite for good relations and it is being maintained and is being built upon.

“But it’s not like that was the only issue in the relationship. There were many other issues, some of which predated Galwan. So, there are issues about trade, there are issues about investment, there are issues about competition, about subsidies, about fairness, about transparency,” he said.

“These are real issues as well. We are trying to work our way through some of it. Some of it is easier, some of it is harder,” he added.

To a question on Pakistan Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, Mr. Jaishankar said much of India’s problem emanates from the military of that country and even referred to its support for terror groups.

Like there are good terrorists and bad terrorists, there are good military leaders and apparently not-so-good ones, he said, seen as a reference to Mr. Munir.

“I think for us, the reality of the Pakistani army has always been and much of our problems actually emanate from them. When you look at the terrorism, when you look at the training camps, when you look at the sort of a policy of almost ideological hostility towards India, where does that come from? It comes from the army,” he said.

Mr. Jaishankar said India and Pakistan should not be hyphenated at all.

“Look at the state of Pakistan. See the differentials and the capabilities and frankly the reputation on either side. We should not get over obsessed and hyphenate ourselves with them. There is a challenge, there are issues that we’ll deal with,” he added.

On Bangladesh, the EAM said India is a well-wisher of that country.

“We think as a democratic country, any democratic country likes to see the will of the people ascertained through a democratic process.”

“I’m quite confident that whatever comes out of the democratic process would have a balanced and mature view about the relationship and, hopefully things would improve,” he said.

Asked if former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina will continue to stay in India, he said, “She came here in a certain circumstance, and I think that circumstance clearly sort of is a factor in what happens to her. But again, that is something which she has to make up her mind.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi (Left).
| Photo Credit: AP

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, right, and Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar enter a hall for their talks at Zinaida Morozova’s Mansion in Moscow, Russia, on Monday, Nov. 17, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP

Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Donald Trump. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Roman Babushkin, charge d’affaires at the Russian embassy in India, attends a press conference in New Delhi, India, August 20, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

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Published – August 21, 2025 01:58 am IST