Russian, Indian foreign ministers discuss situation in Middle East, Ukraine

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday discussed the situation in the Middle East and Ukraine at a meeting with his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

The two diplomats had a meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers summit in Tianjin, China, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"Special attention was paid to the situation around Ukraine and in the Middle East. They agreed to continue coordinating approaches to cooperation between Russia and India in key multilateral formats," it said, noting that issues of bilateral cooperation were also on the meeting's agenda.

Separately, Lavrov met with Pakistani Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar, the Russian foreign service informed.

With Dar, Lavrov discussed various aspects of Russo-Pakistani cooperation, as well as issues of regional and international security, according to the ministry.

The meeting of the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers in Tianjin serves as a preparatory stage for the SCO summit, scheduled for Aug. 30–Sept. 1 in the same city.