External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will visit Russia from December 25-28. During the year-end visit, he will interact with Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on December 24.
During the visit, Dr. Jaishankar is expected meet his counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, who visited Delhi during the G-20 summit, when he led the Russian delegation to the event.
“The time-tested India-Russia partnership remained stable and resilient and continues to be characterised by the spirit of the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership,” the MEA said, announcing the visit during which Dr. Jaishankar is scheduled to meet with officials in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Dr. Jaishankar and Dr. Manturov met in New Delhi in April, when the latter visited India to participate in the inter-governmental dialogue on trade, commerce and culture, when the two sides took stock of economic ties in the backdrop of the commodities shock caused by the Ukraine crisis.
Economic ties between Russia and India expanded more than four-fold in the past two years against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, when Russia emerged as the largest exporter of energy to India, replacing traditional suppliers like Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Both sides also held a talk on concluding a Free Trade Agreement during Mr. Manturov’s previous visit to India.
Dr. Jaishankar’s visit is being viewed as an important exchange between the two sides, with the opportunity for discussions in the absence of the year-end India-Russia summit, which is not taking place this year. The annual India-Russia summit was held the last time on December 6, 2021 when President Vladimir Putin flew to India for an hours-long visit. The annual summit, which has been a feature of the steady bilateral relationship, has not been held for the past two years as Ukraine has become Russia’s main focus. Mr. Putin did not visit New Delhi for the G-20 summit.
Following the crisis in Ukraine and the consequent sanctions on Russia, India and Russia have shifted to trade in national currencies. To help with the payments, Russian banks have set up vostro accounts in India. That, however, has not solved the major issue of payment for energy as Russia has been holding a large amount of the Indian currency that it is reportedly not able to utilise. According to a recent Bloomberg report, Russian energy suppliers have been asking Indian entities to settle payments in Chinese Yuan, which has greater demand in the sanctions-hit Russian economy. The issue is a problem in the Moscow-Delhi relations. Owing to the lingering border tensions between India and China, Indian energy buyers have been resisting the Russian proposal on payment in Yuan.
