NEW DELHI: Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov Friday said he wanted India and China to become friends as he again attacked the West accusing them of preventing a G20 foreign ministers’ joint declaration by raising the Ukraine issue at the G20 meet.
Lavrov said Russia had a special privileged partnership with both India and China. “We are interested in seeing these two great nations become friends,” said Lavrov, while responding to a query at the Raisina Dialogue.
Lavrov also said Russia’s energy policy will veer around “credible partners” like India and China. “The war that was launched against us, using the great Ukrainian people, influence the policy of Russia, including our energy policy. Russia’s energy policy will be oriented towards reliable (and) credible partners like India and China,” he added.
Participating in the Raisina Dialogue here, a combative Lavrov also wondered why everyone was asking Russia whether it was ready to negotiate to end the war when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had signed a decree making negotiations with Moscow under President Vladimir Putin a “criminal offence”.
Lavrov said the countries in Europe were not affected by what Russia was doing in Ukraine, but by the reaction of the West on Moscow’s actions in the region after ample warnings. The global sufferings are related to the sanctions, the policy of blackmail, and the diktat that the West is promoting. Lavrov said US President Joe Biden and Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg have publicly stated that Russia must be defeated on the battlefield.