In his maiden visit to Russia since Ukraine war, Jaishankar to hold talks with Lavrov

New Delhi, Oct 27: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will travel to Moscow to hold talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on November 8, a Russian foreign ministry spokesperson said on Friday.

The proposed visit comes amid a fresh wave of hostilities between Russia and Ukraine following a huge blast in Crimea nearly two weeks ago.

"Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will have talks with External Affairs Minister of India S Jaishankar on November 8 in Moscow," Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. "The ministers will discuss the current state of bilateral relations and the international agenda," she added.

There is no comment yet from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on the proposed visit of Jaishankar. Since the Ukraine conflict began in February, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a number of times.

In a phone conversation with Zelenskyy on October 4, Modi said there can be "no military solution" and that India is ready to contribute to any peace efforts.

At a bilateral meeting with Putin in the Uzbek city of Samarkand on September 16, Modi told the Russian president that "today's era is not of war". India is yet to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine and has been maintaining that the crisis must be resolved through diplomacy and dialogue.

There has been intensification of hostilities between Russia and Ukraine, with Moscow carrying out retaliatory missile strikes targeting various UKrainian cities in response to a huge blast in Crimea around two weeks ago. Moscow has blamed Kyiv for the blast.