A senior Russian diplomat has called the US pressure on India for its procurement of Russian crude oil "unjustified," expressing confidence in continued energy cooperation between India and Russia despite external pressures.
Russia has a "special mechanism" to confront any challenge arising out of the US slapping punitive measures against India for its procurement of Russian crude oil, Russian charge d'affaires Roman Babushkin said on Wednesday.
Russia on Wednesday said it is hoping for quick resolution of the issue relating to India's call for return of Indians recruited into the Russian Army as support staff and asserted their recruitment was purely a commercial matter.
The government has received requests for facilitation of early discharge of some Indian nationals purportedly recruited into the Russian armed forces in unclear circumstances, he said.
'The Indian activities at the UN are fully reflecting the merit of our special and privileged strategic partnership'
'Russia remains in a unique position since it has special strategic relations with both India and China and these relationships are independent in nature'
The UN Security Council is scheduled to vote on Friday evening on a draft resolution on Russia's military operation in Ukraine as well as the escalating situation in the eastern European country.
The Ukrainian ambassador said India has special relationship with Russia and it can play a more proactive role in de-escalation of the situation.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday monitored drills of the country's strategic nuclear forces involving multiple practice launches of ballistic and cruise missiles, the Kremlin said.
The Russian embassy said in the spirit of the special and privileged strategic partnership with India, Moscow is committed to maintaining close dialogue with New Delhi on the situation around Ukraine.
It is learnt that the camp office in Lviv would be able to coordinate the evacuation of Indians to Poland and Hungary while the one at Chernivtsi would facilitate exit to Romania.
The procurement is expected to signal a major upswing in India's strategic ties with the Philippines which has been focusing on ramping up its naval prowess in the face of its lingering friction with China in the South China Sea.
The production of S-400 missiles to be delivered to India has started. The S-400, an upgraded version of the S-300, had previously only been available to the Russian defence forces.
India on Tuesday signed a key pact with the Philippines for the sale of 'defence material and equipment', which are likely to include BrahMos cruise missiles.
It is the first visit abroad by a senior Union minister in four months as foreign travels were restricted in view of the coronavirus pandemic.
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