Jaishankar holds delegation-level talks with Russian counterpart

New Delhi, Apr 6: Delegation-level talks between External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov began here on Tuesday, External Affairs Ministry's spokesman, Arindam Bagchi said.

"A longstanding and time-tested partner! EAM [external affairs minister] @DrSJaishankar welcomes Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov," Bagchi wrote on Twitter, posting a photo of the two ministers in the Hyderabad House in New Delhi, serving as a venue for high-level meetings.

Union External Affairs Minister Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said that New Delhi’s bilateral and political dialogue with Moscow is at its "sustainable highest", and added that the dialogue between the two powers would be conducted in a spirit befitting two "close partners".

Responding to Jaishankar, Lavrov said that the two countries are "tied through a strategic partnership and at the heart of our partnership is the long-lived friendship between our nations and proximity of our stance on relevant international issues and our friendship."

Lavrov, who arrived in New Delhi for his official visit on Monday, is slated to hold talks with Foreign Minister S Jaishankar on April 5 and 6, following which he will leave for Pakistan, where he will hold talks with his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

The India-Russia annual summit was postponed in 2020, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.