NEW DELHI: India and Russia on Thursday careworn their dedication to a strategic partnership as Nationwide Safety Adviser Ajit Doval met with President Vladimir Putin and senior Russian officers in Moscow, a day after US President Donald Trump doubled tariffs on New Delhi resulting from its purchases of Russian oil.
Doval’s go to to Russia, which was beforehand scheduled, coincided with Trump’s unveiling of the punitive 25% tariff on India, along with a 25% levy on Indian items that took impact on Thursday. Doval’s discussions with the highest Russian management centred on strengthening strategic and financial cooperation between the 2 international locations.
Doval met Putin on the Kremlin after his wide-ranging discussions with Russian Safety Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu. Doval and Shoigu emphasised the significance of the “very particular relationship” between India and Russia amid uncertainties on the worldwide stage – an apparent reference to the churn created by the insurance policies of the Trump administration.
“We extremely worth our strategic partnership,” Doval stated. “I believe you [Shoigu] stated the world is passing by a really tumultuous scenario. There’s some unpredictability, there are some uncertainties, and in an setting like this, our outdated strategic and privileged partnership has received a really particular function.”
Shoigu famous that Russia and India are linked by “sturdy, time-tested ties of friendship”, and stated a precedence for Moscow is strengthening the strategic partnership with India primarily based on “mutual respect, belief, equal consideration of one another’s pursuits and the will to advertise a unifying agenda”.
He stated, “We’re dedicated to additional lively cooperation to kind a brand new, extra simply and sustainable world order, make sure the rule of worldwide regulation and collectively fight trendy challenges and threats.”
Common dialogue on bilateral and regional points between the Safety Councils of the 2 sides contributes to taking India-Russia ties to the next stage amid the “present sophisticated worldwide setting”, Shoigu stated.
Among the many points mentioned between Doval and Shoigu was Putin’s proposed go to to India for the annual India-Russia Summit. Doval famous that dates for the go to “are virtually finalised” however didn’t give particulars. These summits have given new course to bilateral ties and ongoing discussions are aimed toward firming up deliverables for the forthcoming summit, he stated.
Individuals conversant in the matter stated on situation of anonymity that the 2 sides have been in talks on arranging Putin’s go to, although no particular dates or timeframe has been locked down thus far.
Doval additionally thanked the Russian authorities and Putin for its help when India “confronted a ugly terrorist” at Pahalgam. “The Prime Minister [Narendra Modi] has specifically requested me to convey his thanks. We’re dedicated, as you’re dedicated, to combat towards terrorism with all our would possibly,” he stated.
Putin was among the many first world leaders to sentence the Pahalgam terror assault on April 22 that killed 26 civilians. Russian-origin army {hardware}, together with the S-400 air defence system, Su-30 fight jets and the BrahMos cruise missile, was extensively utilized by India in hostilities that erupted with Pakistan after New Delhi launched Operation Sindoor to focus on terror infrastructure on Pakistani soil.
A readout from the Russian facet stated Doval and Shoigu mentioned methods to strengthen the bilateral strategic partnership and “emphasised the significance of joint efforts in preparation of the bilateral summit by the tip of this yr”. In addition they mentioned cooperation in multilateral codecs and exchanged views on problems with worldwide safety, the readout stated.
Exterior affairs minister S Jaishankar can be anticipated to go to Russia within the third week of August for a gathering of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Fee on Commerce, Financial, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC), the principle mechanism overseeing commerce and financial cooperation.
Each visits have assumed larger significance in view of the Trump administration’s concentrating on of India-Russia ties in power and defence. Earlier than imposing the extra 25% tariff on India on Wednesday, Trump repeatedly criticised India on social media for buying Russian power. He claimed India is shopping for “huge quantities” of Russian oil and profiting by promoting a lot of the crude on the open market. “They don’t care how many individuals in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian Struggle Machine,” he stated.
India responded to the extra tariff by saying it might shield its nationwide pursuits within the face of the “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable” transfer. The exterior affairs ministry stated it was “extraordinarily unlucky” that the US had imposed an extra tariff on India “for actions that a number of different international locations are additionally taking in their very own nationwide curiosity” – a reference to the purchases of Russian power by China, Turkiye and EU member states that haven’t been equally focused by the Trump administration.
