External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Russia's Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the G20 foreign ministers' meeting.
The global food and energy crisis triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine figured prominently in talks with Blinken in Bali. The US State department said Blinken and Jaishankar discussed collective efforts to mitigate the global implications of "Russia's unprovoked aggression against Ukraine". It said Blinken welcomed India's decision to join the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity, and noted that he looked forward to its leadership of the G20 next year.
Jaishankar spoke with Lavrov on global issues including the crisis in Ukraine and the situation in Afghanistan. "Met FM Sergey Lavrov of Russia on the sidelines of the Bali #G20FMM. Discussed bilateral matters of mutual interest. Also exchanged views on contemporary regional and international issues including the Ukraine conflict and Afghanistan," Jaishankar tweeted.
The Jaishankar-Lavrov talks came a week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed in a phone conversation the state of global energy and food markets in the backdrop of the Ukraine crisis. India has not yet condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and it has been maintaining that the crisis must be resolved through diplomacy and dialogue. In the last few months, India has also increased the import of discounted crude oil from Russia notwithstanding increasing disquiet over it by several Western powers. India's crude oil imports from Russia have jumped over 50 times since April and now it makes up for 10 per cent of all crude bought from overseas.
