EAM Jaishankar holds wide-ranging talks with Russian counterpart Lavrov

New Delhi, Mar 1 (PTI) External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday held wide-ranging talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov focusing on the Ukraine conflict, bilateral ties and issues relating to the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting.

The Russian Foreign Minister landed in the national capital on Tuesday night to attend a two-day meeting of the G20 foreign ministers that is taking place amid Russia’s escalating confrontation with the Western powers over the Ukraine conflict.

“A wide ranging discussion with FM Sergey Lavrov of Russia on #G20FMM sidelines. Exchanged views on our bilateral cooperation and G20 issues,” Jaishankar tweeted. It is learnt that the Ukraine conflict figured in the talks.

A Russian readout said the two ministers resolved to enhance coordination on the international stage and in multilateral forums including at the United Nations, G20, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa.

“They confirmed their compliance with the establishment of a polycentric world order based on fair and democratic principles and the rule of law,” it said.

The Russian foreign ministry late last night issued a statement, saying Moscow considers the G20 as a prestigious forum for the world’s leading economies where “balanced” and “consensus” decisions should be made in the interests of all.

“We support India’s G20 presidency in its commitment to promote a unifying agenda that will restore confidence in multilateral diplomacy and prevent the fragmentation of the global economy,” it said.

The ministry also accused the US and its allies of pursuing a “destructive policy” that it claimed put the world on the “brink of a disaster.”

“The destructive policy of the US and its allies has already put the world on the brink of a disaster, provoked a rollback in socio-economic development and seriously aggravated the situation of the poorest countries,” it said.

It alleged that the entire world is suffering from the “illegal sanctions, the artificial breakup of cross-border supply chains, the imposition of notorious price ceilings and, in effect, from attempts to steal natural resources.”

The US-led West has imposed punitive economic sanctions against Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian foreign ministry said Moscow shares the relevance of India’s stated priorities such as ensuring inclusive and sustainable economic growth, accelerating progress towards the achievement of sustainable development goals, reforming multilateral institutions and digital modernisation.

“We support India’s effort to improve working mechanisms and create specialised processes to respond to natural disasters and launch start-ups. We are ready to make a significant contribution to making progress in all these areas.”

“We aim to work together with our Indian colleagues to achieve the desired result, showing the greatest possible flexibility. At the same time, we will firmly defend Russia’s fundamental interests and an international world order based on the central role of the UN and international law,” the Russian foreign ministry said.

It said Russia will strongly promote “recognition of the new global realities” that assert a multipolar system of relations between states.

“During the regular foreign ministers’ meeting we intend to firmly and openly talk about the reasons and instigators of the current serious problems in world politics and the global economy,” the ministry added.

“We will focus on the attempts by the West to take revenge for the inevitable disappearance of the levers of dominance from its hands. We will also concentrate on its striving to continue receiving unilateral rent, in part, through unequal trade and violent interference in the affairs of sovereign states,” it said.