Stating that “sky is the limit” as far as India-Russia relations go, Russia Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday said that except US President Donald Trump, nobody else has declared that India will stop buying Russian oil.
Responding to a lawmaker in the State Duma (Lower House of Russian Parliament), Lavrov said, “You mentioned that Donald Trump announced India’s agreement to no longer purchase Russian oil. I have not heard such a statement from anyone else, including Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi and other Indian leaders.”
As India kicks off its BRICS presidency this year with the first Sherpa meeting held in New Delhi recently, Lavrov said that External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told the first meeting of Sherpas that energy security will be one of the top items of the summit that Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to attend.
A new meeting between the leaders of the two countries is expected to take place on the sidelines of the BRICS summit, Lavrov told the Russian Parliament. “Russia is ready to go as far in relations with India as New Delhi would desire”, he said, adding, “the sky is the limit”.
Speaking during the Government Hour of the State Duma, Lavrov said Putin’s state visit to India in December 2025 had further enriched relations between Moscow and New Delhi.
On January 1, India formally assumed the chairmanship of BRICS, a 10-member bloc comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, along with five new members. The first meeting of BRICS Sherpas and Sous Sherpas under India’s Chairship was held on February 9-10 in New Delhi. It was Chaired by Secretary (Economic Relations) Sudhakar Dalela, India’s BRICS Sherpa, supported by Joint Secretary (Multilateral Economic Relations) Shambhu L Hakki, India’s BRICS Sous Sherpa.
BRICS Sherpas and senior officials from Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and UAE participated in the meeting. The BRICS Sherpas and Country Representatives jointly called on the External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday. During the meeting, India presented the priorities for its Chairship in 2026 under the theme “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability”.
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Several Ministries and government departments presented India’s priorities and proposed activities under various BRICS thematic areas, including cooperation in health, agriculture, labour and employment, disaster risk reduction, environment, climate change, energy, innovation, ICT, security and counter-terrorism, economic and financial domains, as per a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
Further, there was a productive exchange of views on institutional development of the BRICS grouping, the MEA said on Wednesday.
In line with India’s approach of having a “people-centric” Chairship, presentations on cooperation in sports, youth connect, cultural engagements, BRICS Academic Forum, BRICS Think Tank Council, BRICS Civil Forum as well as the BRICS Business Council and the BRICS Women’s Business Alliance were also made.
The representatives of the BRICS Partner countries participated in the opening session of the meeting. India’s BRICS Chairship builds on the cooperative activities carried out under previous BRICS Chairships, and shares their perspectives in advancing priorities of resilience, innovation, cooperation and sustainability, and people-centric approach, MEA said.
(With PTI inputs)
