The Foreign minister of Russia, Sergey Lavrov will arrive in India for a two-day visit on Thursday, the Indian government said today.

It will be the highest level visit from Moscow since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

A government press release said, “Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, H.E. Mr. Sergey Lavrov will pay an official visit to New Delhi on 31 March -1 April 2022.”

The Russian foreign minister is in China today where he met with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi at Anhui, where China hosted a two-day meet on Afghanistan.

Lavrov had arrived in China for talks hosted by Yi that were set to include representatives from Taliban-ruled Afghanistan along with Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

The talks come following Russia’s attack on Ukraine and an economic and humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan worsening with financial aid cutoff following the Taliban takeover.

The Taliban government also made a U-turn last week on allowing girls to attend public high schools, sparking widespread condemnation, which has necessitated the talks.