Russia: India’s US relations won’t define ties with us

Russia fully respects India’s national interests and the independent foreign policy being pursued by PM Narendra Modi, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said, asserting that India's ties with the US or any other country cannot be a benchmark for New Delhi-Moscow ties.

- Agencies

Lavrov said India and Russia share a “particularly privileged strategic partnership”.

“These situations that might arise between India and the US or India and any other country, I can't consider them a criteria for relations between India and Russia,” he said on Saturday.

Lavrov was responding to a question on India's continued imports of Russian oil despite US pressure on countries to reduce such purchases, and how Moscow views its ties with New Delhi in this context.

Lavrov cited the recent meeting between PM Modi and President Vladimir Putin at the SCO summit in China. He added Putin is expected to visit New Delhi in December.