Jaishankar meets Russian counterpart Lavrov in South Africa on sidelines of BRICS FM meeting

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on June 1 met his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov and discussed issues of bilateral and global interests.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on June 1 met his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov and discussed issues of bilateral and global interests.

Mr. Jaishankar, who is here to participate in a conclave of five-nation grouping BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa), held talks with Mr. Lavrov on the sidelines of the BRICS Foreign Ministers' Meeting.

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"Good to meet FM Sergey Lavrov of Russia in Cape Town this morning on BRICS FMM sidelines. Our discussions covered bilateral matters, BRICS, G20 and SCO," Mr. Jaishankar said in a tweet.

India will hold the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and G-20 summits in July and September respectively.

In the last few months, India has become a leading importer of discounted crude oil from Russia notwithstanding increasing disquiet in the West over the procurement in view of Russian invasion of Ukraine.

India's economic engagement with Russia has been on a major upswing in the last one year, largely due to its procurement of discounted Russian oil.