🎙 Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s opening remarks during talks with Minister of External Affairs of the Republic of India Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar (November 17, 2025, Moscow)

💬 We are pleased to welcome you to Moscow as you take part in a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Council of Heads of Government.

We regularly use the opportunities offered by multilateral events to talk and to sync our agendas on matters that are discussed and advanced during top-level meetings between President of Russia Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi.

🇷🇺🇮🇳 This is our sixth meeting this year, which shows that Russia-India relations are of a particularly privileged strategic partnership and are our top foreign policy priority.

We maintain a substantive political dialogue; the heads of security councils, foreign affairs and defence ministries, and economic agencies meet on a regular basis in addition to top-level summits. Our treaty and legal framework and numerous and highly effective interstate cooperation mechanisms are being constantly updated and improved.

At this point, we are placing special emphasis on creating favorable conditions for our economic operators to work in each other’s markets. The list of bilateral trade items continues to expand, and supply chains that are impervious to illegitimate external influence continue to be built.

The International North-South Transport Corridor and the Northern Sea Route are the most promising projects in which Russia and India are deeply involved.

We can boast impressive results and, arguably, have even more favorable prospects in energy, industry, agriculture, military and military-technical cooperation, as well as in scientific-technical and cultural ties.

We closely cooperate on the international stage, including within the #UN, #BRICS, the #SCO, and the #G20. Without a doubt, our interaction contributes to strengthening regional and global stability and enhancing the effectiveness of these groups and organizations.

You have a rich and diverse programme in Moscow. As I understand, you will focus in particular on bilateral relations at your meeting with First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov. Today, however, we can address some of bilateral issues and focus mostly on cooperation in the international arena as part of the agreements between our respective foreign ministries.

Your visit comes at an opportune moment, with the Russian-Indian Summit in New Delhi just three weeks away.

🤝 #RussiaIndia #DruzhbaDosti

In the Kremlin's St Catherine Hall, the President met with the heads of delegations attending a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Heads of State Council

We all share a common goal: to enhance the authority and influence of the SCO as one of the largest regional organisations in Eurasia and, moreover, the entire world.

The meeting of the SCO Heads of State Council took place earlier today, chaired by Prime Minister of Russia Mikhail Mishustin.