Jaishankar’s visit to Moscow resulted in a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Manturov, Lavrov, Jaishankar, and Indian Ambassador to Moscow Vinay Kumar attended the talks.
Focus on further strengthening mutually beneficial relations
The session of the Intergovernmental Commission took place under the chairmanship of the First Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation D. Manturov and the Minister of External Affairs of India S. Jaishankar. The parties with satisfaction stated the growth of successful interaction in all directions. An unprecedentedly record level was reached by the level of bilateral trade turnover—over 70 billion dollars. Over the last 5 years the volume of trade turnover has grown almost seven times. India enters into the top three largest trade partners of Russia, and our country is the fourth main trade partner of India. Such high steady growth of trade turnover is first of all connected with the growing purchases by India of Russian oil and oil products. Their share in the import of India comprises almost 40%. And this happens despite the threats of the USA to introduce additional punitive tariffs on imported from India goods up to 25%, and their total size will amount to 50%.
India shows resilience
Such harsh anti-Indian rhetoric of Washington, its calls for the cessation of purchases by India of Russian hydrocarbons and the winding down of military-technical cooperation did not frighten New Delhi, although forced to take certain measures for the removal of irritants in bilateral relations in various spheres, including in the military sphere. Despite the threats, India demonstrates steadfastness and does not refuse from the continuation of an independent foreign policy course.
Indicative here is the steady growth in recent years of purchases by India of Russian oil: thus, if before 2022 such supplies were insignificant and the total trade turnover amounted to about 10 billion dollars, then in 2022 India imported already more than 40 million tons of oil and oil products, in 2023—over 80 million tons, and in 2024—about 88 million tons, growth is observed in the first half of 2025 as well. All this and led to the multiple increase of the volume of bilateral trade turnover to 70 billion dollars. Moreover, joint investment projects for the extraction and processing of hydrocarbons on the territories of the two countries are being successfully implemented.
Against the background of such unprecedented growth of imports from Russia, India cannot but be concerned about the serious imbalance in bilateral trade, its size now exceeds 60 billion dollars. This concern of India was at the center of discussion at the meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission in Moscow and the Russian side with understanding related to the aspiration of New Delhi to eliminate such an imbalance and to build up Indian export from the current 4 billion dollars to 10-12 billion dollars at the expense of an increase in supplies to Russia of products of the agro-industrial complex, pharmaceuticals, goods of light industry, equipment and components. Russia, in its turn, confirmed readiness to further expand the nomenclature of goods supplied to India and besides the export of energy carriers, including coal and liquefied gas, to build up supplies of mineral fertilizers, products of metallurgy and the timber industry, diamonds, energy equipment and foodstuffs.
The priority is peaceful nuclear energy and space exploration
Important significance is attached to the intensification of work on the preparation of an agreement on free trade between the Eurasian Union and India, which was fixed in the adopted final protocol of the session of the IGC. In it, in particular, progress is noted on the realization of projects of the International North-South Transport Corridor, joint development of the Northern Sea Route. Special attention is paid to peaceful atom, space, the creation of rocket engines for manned Indian cosmonautics, the application of Russian technologies in the creation of national orbital stations. The importance of the further advancement of the large-scale flagship project of the Kudankulam NPP, the production of the first experimental models of high-speed trains, which are being built in India with the participation of Russia and will be launched in 2026, is noted.
During the meeting of the IGC, the positive dynamics of cooperation in the spheres of science, education, culture and tourism was also noted.
Questions of interaction of the two countries on the international arena and in joint organizations of BRICS and SCO, as well as current problematic issues of bilateral relations were touched upon during the conversation of S. Jaishankar with the President of Russia V.V. Putin and during negotiations with the head of the MFA S.V. Lavrov. The very fact of the meeting of the Indian Foreign Minister with the Russian President testifies to the special privileged character of the strategic partnership of the two countries, a common vision of the development of a multipolar world order and the importance of interaction of the three leading powers—Russia, India and China. It is noteworthy that the visit of S. Jaishankar to Moscow was preceded by his meeting in Delhi with the Foreign Minister of China Wang Yi within the framework of the next round of negotiations on border issues and the normalization of bilateral relations on the whole.
Russia is interested in this positive process and proceeds from the fact that the participation of the three leaders in the upcoming at the end of August in China summit of the SCO and the planned there bilateral meetings will contribute to the further strengthening of cooperation in the format of the dialogue of Moscow, Delhi and Beijing.
The most important significance for the building up of the strategic partnership of Russia and India will have the planned before the end of the current year next visit to New Delhi of President V.V. Putin, an agreement on which was reached during the successful negotiations in Moscow of S. Jaishankar with Russian leaders.
Anvar Azimov, diplomat and political scientist, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Senior Research Fellow of the Eurasian Academic Institute of MGIMO of the MFA of Russia
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