External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar had embarked on a 3-day official visit to Moscow at the invitation of the First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation H.E. Mr. Denis Manturov, to co-chair the 26th session of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation(IRIGC-TEC). The visit is a continuation of the series of swift diplomatic exchanges witnessed between New Delhi and Moscow, in the aftermath of tariff tussle initiated by the US President Donald Trump.
“The visit aims to further strengthen the longstanding and time-tested India-Russia special and privileged strategic partnership”, the statement from the Ministry of External affairs reiterated. The visit comes at a critical geopolitical juncture, where US has imposed stringent tariffs on India specifically for importing the Russian oil. The visit by EAM also resonates the strategic fact that despite all the geopolitical compulsions, India’s diplomatic moves are firm and bold on the geopolitical chessboard, which is rooted in strategic autonomy in order to secure the national priorities with trusted partners without bowing down or aligning to any irrational geopolitical pressures.
Creative approaches to counter geopolitical and trade challenges
During IRIGC-TEC bilateral meet, Jaishankar emphasised the need for India and Russia to craft creative and innovative approaches to successfully navigate the geopolitical challenges. “Doing more and doing differently should be our mantras”, said EAM Jaishankar during his opening remarks at the meet. “The various working groups and sub-groups could perhaps take a more creative and innovative approach towards their respective agendas. The challenge posed by the larger landscape that I mentioned require us to do so. India and Russia should continuously diversify and expand their agenda of cooperation including by diversifying the bilateral trade basket and through more joint ventures”, reiterated Dr. S. Jaishankar.
EAM Jaishankar’s remarks comes in the backdrop of spiking US tariffs on India and also other non-tariff barriers, protectionist measures spiraling across the globe. US specifically, has imposed a massive 50% tariffs on Indian exports to US which includes 25% additional tariffs for purchasing the Russian oil. In the wake of such a geopolitical volatility, further consolidating and expanding the strategic partnership with a time-tested partner like Russia is crucial and also will be a strategic masterstroke, instead of kneeling down against any external pressure.
In this context Jaishankar also asserted, “This will help us tap into full potential of our trade and investment ties. We should not get stuck on a beaten track. I would urge that we set ourselves some quantifiable targets and specific timelines so that we challenge ourselves to achieve more, perhaps even surpass what we set out to do”.
Need to bridge the trade imbalances
During the meeting, Jaishankar has also highlighted the need to restore the huge trade imbalance created between India and Russia. Though, overall trade between Moscow and New Delhi has multiplied by five times in last four years, trade deficit has also further deepened due to India’s expounding oil purchases from Russia. EAM has thus called to fill this trade deficit urgently.
At the 26th Session of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission for Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological, and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC), EAM Dr S Jaishankar says "We are meeting here after about 10 months since the last Session in November 2024 in New Delhi,… pic.twitter.com/62lIpuS69l
— ANI (@ANI) August 20, 2025
“Over the last four years, our bilateral trade in goods has increased, more than five-fold from $3 billion in 2021 to $68 billion in 2024-25. However, a major trade imbalance has accompanied the growth; it has increased from $6.6 billion to $58.9 billion which is about nine times. So we need to address that urgently”, said EAM Jaishankar while co-chairing the IRIGC-TEC meet.
Jaishankar holds discussions with Russian Foreign Minister
As a part of his on-going bilateral visit to Moscow, Jaishankar held bilateral discussions with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. In a joint press briefing post the meeting, Jaishankar hailed the India’s relationship with Russia as “the steadiest of the major relationships in the world after the second world war”. Russian Foreign Minister described the ties as “special strategic partnership”.
During the meeting with Sergey Lavrov EAM Jaishankar opined that New Delhi and Moscow should adapt to “the evolving geopolitical situation, the shifting economic and trade landscape and our shared goal to maximize our complementarity”.
Both the Ministers also held a detailed conversation on various facets of the India-Russia bilateral relations such as trade, investment, fertilizers, health, skilling and mobility, defence and people-to-people exchanges. Discussions also encompassed various geopolitical conflicts such as Ukraine war, West Asia & Iran, Afghanistan and on the geopolitics unravelling in the Indian sub-continent.
Moscow | In a joint press conference with Russian FM Lavrov, External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar says, "…On regional issues, we discussed developments in Ukraine, West Asia, the Middle East and Afghanistan. India's approach continues to emphasise dialogue and diplomacy as… https://t.co/fjwNAgOqgH
— ANI (@ANI) August 21, 2025
Both leaders also asserted that the preparations are underway for a high-stake summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin in New Delhi, by the end of this year.
Jaishankar schools on who is the ‘largest buyer of the Russian oil’
While addressing the media along with his counterpart Sergey Lavrov, Dr. S. Jaishankar schooled the media regarding who is the largest oil purchaser from Russia and also asserted that it is not India. “We are not the biggest purchasers of the Russian oil, that is China. We are not the biggest purchasers of LNG, that is the European Union. We are not the country which has the biggest trade surge with Russia after 2022; I think there are some countries to the South”.
Moscow | During a press briefing, External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar says, "…We are not the biggest purchasers of Russian oil, that is China. We are not the biggest purchasers of LNG, that is the European Union. We are not the country which has the biggest trade surge… pic.twitter.com/pbH06HtTwK
— ANI (@ANI) August 21, 2025
Jaishankar also highlighted that India has been playing a key role in stabilizing the world energy market that US is actually speaking about since the past few years. Additionally, India “also buys oil from the US and that amount has increased”, said Jaishankar while rebuking the argument and repeated blame on India for purchasing the Russian oil. He also claimed that he was very “perplexed” at the logic of the argument by western media regarding the purchase of the Russian oil by India.
As the countdown begins for a high-stake summit between PM Modi and Russian President Putin, the visit by EAM Jaishankar to Russia is deemed as a review of the comprehensive status of the bilateral relations that is crucial to set stage for the leaders’ summit. It also comes as a strong message to the aggressing nations who need to realize that India always walks in the sovereign path ensuring its strategic autonomy and national security interests, irrespective of any attempt for geopolitical subjugation.
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