New York [US], September 28 (ANI): At the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that a visit from Mr Putin is being 'planned' to New Delhi in December

On India-Russia relations, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, '...In December, a visit from Mr Putin is being planned to New Delhi.' 'We have a very extensive bilateral agenda, trade, military, technical cooperation, finance, humanitarian matters, healthcare, high-tech, artificial intelligence, and of course close coordination at the international level within the SCO, BRICS and bilaterally...'

He said that India is 'perfectly capable' of making their own decisions in its trade relations with Russia.

Sergey Lavrov said, 'This year, my colleague, I spoke to him yesterday, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, will visit Russia, and I will visit India. We hold regular exchanges. I'm not even asking what is going to happen to our trade relations, our oil. I don't ask our Indian colleagues this. They are perfectly capable of making these decisions on their own.

He also hailed his counterpart Jaishankar, saying India has 'self-respect' like Turkey.

'And publicly, my friend, whom I referenced earlier when he was asked a similar question, said, if the US wants to sell their oil to us, we are prepared to discuss the terms for this. But what we buy from other countries, not the United States, but from Russia or other countries, that's our own business. And that has nothing to do with the Indian-US agenda. And I believe that that is a very worthy response that shows that India, like Turkey, has self-respect.'

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov asserted that the economic partnership between India and Russia is 'not under threat' amid the US tariffs on India for buying Russian oil.

Responding to a question by ANI on secondary sanctions imposed on India by the US for importing Russian oil, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, '(The economic partnership between India and Russia) is not under threat... The Indian Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs have made it clear that India chooses its own partners. If the US has proposals on how to enrich bilateral trade between the US and India, they are prepared to discuss the terms for that, whatever terms the US might put forth. But when it comes to trade, investment, economic, military, technological, and other relations between India and third states, it is something that India will discuss only with those states in question.' (ANI)