Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov has lauded external affairs minister S Jaishankar for navigating bilateral ties between New Delhi and Moscow amid the Ukraine war and recalled how his Indian counterpart responded when Western pundits demanded to know why India still aligned with his country.

Sergey Lavrov was addressing the World Youth Forum in the Russian city of Sochi where he was asked about India’s oil purchases from Russia.

Recalling the words of S Jaishankar, who advised Europeans to look at themselves before lecturing others, the Russian foreign minister said “India has always been a friend” of Moscow.

“My friend, foreign minister Subramanyam Jaishankar, was once at the UN, giving a speech. He was asked why they started buying so much oil from Russia. He advised them to mind their own business and reminded them at the same time how much oil the West had started buying and continued to buy oil from the Russian Federation. This is national dignity,” Sergey Lavrov was quoted as saying by Sputnik news agency.

During the discussion session, Sergey Lavrov also highlighted the historical partnership between India and Russia, particularly Moscow’s support for New Delhi during the Cold War period when the West withheld advanced weaponry.

Explaining what qualities Russians and Indians share, Sergey Lavrov said, “In those years, when the West did not even think of transferring modern weapons to India, the Soviet Union, and later Russia, not only did so, but also set up joint production of high-tech missiles (including the) BrahMos. That is why we remember (our) friendship, we never forget ourselves and we see that the Indian people have the same qualities.”

In January last year, S Jaishankar has defended India’s move to import crude oil from Russia notwithstanding the growing disquiet over it by Western powers, saying that Europe has imported six times the fossil fuel energy from Russia than India has done since February 2022.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, India has steadily increased its purchases of discounted Russian oil. Indian imports of Russian oil hit a record high in October 2022, with Russia becoming India’s top oil supplier in terms of barrels per day, news agency PTI reported, quoting data from energy tracker Vortexa.

India and Russia have close relations and New Delhi has not supported Western sanctions on Moscow, even though it has repeatedly urged an “immediate cessation of violence” in Ukraine. India, also a major market for Russian-made weapons, has so far abstained from UN resolutions critical of Moscow’s war.