WATCH IN FULL: Sergey Lavrov’s exclusive interview with RT India
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has described Russia-India ties as “impossible to destroy.” In a wide-ranging interview with RT India’s Runjhun Sharma as part of the India, Russia and the World show, Lavrov said the complementary nature of the two countries’ economies and the decades of cooperation in the areas of defense, technology, space, culture, and now energy and manufacturing make the ties strong.
“Those who are trying to worry about the future of Russian-Indian friendship, I think they should not be worried,” Lavrov said, adding that some global powers are trying to “undermine” relations between Russia and India, but “these attempts do not achieve results.”
Lavrov was speaking to RT ahead of his trip to New Delhi for the meeting of BRICS foreign ministers which begins on Wednesday.
Regarding Russia-India ties in the energy and defense sectors, the foreign minister said that “for a long time after India gained independence, no Western country wanted to help India to develop its military,” while Russia sold India weaponry and shared technology for many kinds of weaponry to be manufactured in India.
“We started with Brahmos missiles, then Kalashnikov machine guns, and now it is also T-90 tanks being produced in India,” he said, adding that during the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to India last year, the countries agreed to a long-term plan for economic cooperation which includes military technical cooperation.
Lavrov also praised India’s leadership for advancing a development agenda and policies that allow the country of 1.4 billion people to grow despite the pressures and restrictions Western powers try to place on this process.
“Prime Minister Modi is one of the most vibrant leaders the world has ever seen. He not only has vibrant energy, he focuses it on very important goals and achievements – achieving absolute sovereignty in all spheres, be it the economy, military defense, culture, and naturally, maintaining the civilizational heritage that India has like no other,” Lavrov said.
