External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday briefed his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on the Indo-US nuclear deal and raised the issues of delay in the delivery of Gorshkov aircraft carrier.
The crucial nuclear deal on the construction of four more additional reactors for the nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu was due to be signed in Moscow in November 2007 during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Moscow visit.
Speaking to media persons aboard Air India 001, conveying Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to Moscow, Menon said, "This is one relationship without any wrinkles or difficulties." The foreign secretary was reacting to an inquiry whether Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's refusal to meet External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on the latter's visit to Moscow last month.
Discussion on bilateral relations and key international issues will be high on the agenda during Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's two-day visit to Islamabad beginning on Wednesday.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday held a bilateral meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, more than a week after his visit to Moscow where the two could not meet, triggering reports of a rebuff to the Indian leader. Lavrov requested Mukherjee for a briefing on the latest state of the Indo-US civilian nuclear cooperation deal and he was informed about it.
"Today, we can assert with confidence that they not only withstood (the test), but convincingly proved that they (bilateral ties) continue to remain one of the most important factors of the world politics," he said.
"Our relations with emerging, I would rather say emerged, centres of power in the multi-polar world like India and China will remain the priority in our foreign policy in 2008," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing stressed the need for strengthening cooperation.
The move came after Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov branded the action by the French police "an absolutely unacceptable incident".
It was said that there is a gap in the foreign policy aspirations of Moscow and Washington.
In their first ever 'standalone' trilateral meeting, foreign ministers of India, Russia and China will hold talks in Russia's far-eastern port city of Vladivostok next week on a whole spectrum of issues.
India, Russia for resolving Iran issue within IAEA framework
It was not clear how many tanks would be produced for Pakistan.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov will be the other two participants at the conference. Uncertainty had loomed over the meeting following the cross border clash between Indian and Chinese troops in Galwan Valley on Monday evening.
These sweeping financial sanctions follow the action earlier this week to cut off Russia's frozen funds in the United States to make debt payments.
Al-Qaeda prepared the ground for the announcement earlier Thursday in an online message.
In his address to RIC Foreign Ministers, Wang said the three countries should 'correctly handle and properly deal with sensitive factors in bilateral relations and safeguard the overall interests of mutual relation', without directly referring to the current round of India-China military tensions along the Line of Actual Control, (LAC).
Expressing grave concern over Russia's support for separatists groups in Ukraine, US President Barack Obama has told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that all irregular forces in Ukraine need to lay down their arms.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will attend a two-day trilateral meeting of the foreign ministers of Russia, India and China in New Delhi from November 10 to discuss regional and international issues.
Syria has agreed with the Russian proposal to place its chemical weapons stocks under international control to "uproot US aggression", hours after President Barack Obama said he would "absolutely" put on hold any military strike on the country if it does so.
Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were found collapsed after being poisoned last week. Both remain in a serious condition along with a police officer who came in contact with the same substance.
The United Nations said on Friday it has received documents from Syrian government on joining the chemical weapons convention, which outlaws their production and use.
Putin is looking beyond the current regime in Kyiv. Of course, if the Western military assistance to Kyiv continues in any form, Washington knows that Russia will regard it as a hostile act and there will be severe consequences, predicts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The decision to disengage the forces, locked in a bitter standoff for the last six weeks in eastern Ladakh, was taken at a nearly 11-hour-long meeting between senior Indian and Chinese commanders in Moldo on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) on Monday.
'No prime minister of India is averse to normalise relations with Pakistan, if it is possible to do so without altering our fundamental position on Jammu and Kashmir,' notes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Syria has appealed to the UN to try to "prevent any aggression" against it and said US military action would amount to "support for Al Qaeda and its affiliates," even as President Barack Obama today lobbied with war-weary American lawmakers to convince them for a strike.
US Secretary of State John Kerry has told his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov that Russia must pull back its troops from the Ukrainian border to deescalate the tension following Crimea's takeover by Moscow.
China on Wednesday said it attaches 'great importance' to Sushma Swaraj's visit to Beijing.
'Terrorism continues to be the overwhelming threat to security and stability in the SCO region and therefore Dr Jaishankar strongly pitched for 'collective action',' observes Dr Rajaram Panda.
Hours after the multi-lateral conference began in Moscow, India made it clear that its participation was in sync with its Afghan policy and asserted that attending the meeting was not talking to the Taliban at all.
The United States has said it has no problem with India's engagement with Russia, but cautioned that it was not the right time to have trade deals with Moscow because of a series of international sanctions against it.
European governments have stepped up diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the crisis in Ukraine, encouraged by Russian President Vladimir Putin's assurance that his country has no intention to annexe the Crimean peninsula or to wage a war against its neighbour.
"I just fired the head of the FBI. He was crazy, a real nut job," Trump told Lavrov, according to a media report.
'Russia's interest lies in boosting Pakistan's grit and capacity to withstand US pressure,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The news report was immediately refuted by both the Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and the National Security Advisor, who said that there was no discussion of specific threats with the Russians.
'He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go,' Trump had said, adding that Flynn had done nothing wrong.
The French envoy was notified about "discrimination" towards Russian citizens, it said, adding that "further fanning of anti-Russian sentiments" could damage relations between France and Russia.
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