New Delhi (dpa) – This probably won’t happen too often to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov:

When he again blamed the West for the war in Ukraine – in English – during a lecture in the Indian capital New Delhi on Friday, he was cut short by laughter from the audience. Asked about his country’s energy policy, he replied: “You know, the war that we are trying to end and that was started against us, in which Ukraine was used…”.

Youtube video with laughter at 28:55

After a short pause, provoked by laughter from the audience, he then hesitantly added that (the war) had influenced Russian policy, including energy policy. Russia will never rely on its Western partners again. Rather, they want reliable partners in energy policy, India and China are certainly among them.

Lavrov names war as such

It was remarkable that Lavrov described the war as such. So far the Kremlin has avoided this and speaks of a “special military operation”.

At the end of the 30-minute conversation broadcast by the Firstpost news site during the Raisina conference, the moderator said goodbye to Lavrov and asked him if he could promise that the next conversation would take place at a less time. dangerous. “The Americans will definitely suggest some questions you can use,” Lavrov said, getting up, smiling and leaving the stage laughing. The Multilateral Conference on Geopolitics and Economics, organized by a think tank and the Indian Foreign Ministry, is held annually in New Delhi.

The laughter aroused by Lavrov’s performance caused a big echo on social networks. Lavrov becomes a joke, just making fun of world power, it must be awkward, according to various reactions.

India has strong economic and military ties with Russia and wishes to remain neutral. Much of the equipment for the Indian Armed Forces comes from Russia. More recently, the South Asian country with the second-largest population after China abstained at the United Nations General Assembly in a vote on a resolution on the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of the ‘Ukraine. The resolution contains the demand for peace and the withdrawal of Moscow.

© dpa-infocom, dpa:230304-99-824191/2