Doval, Jaishankar set to visit Moscow amid Trump’s tariff threats
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar are set to visit Moscow this month, reaffirming India’s strategic ties with Russia despite growing pressure from US President Donald Trump.
Doval is scheduled to visit Moscow this week, while Jaishankar is expected to follow later in the month.
Both visits come ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s expected trip to India for the annual bilateral summit. They also coincide with the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) leaders’ summit, scheduled to be held in China from August 31 to September 1, where both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Putin are invited.
Doval is expected to bring clarity on how New Delhi plans to navigate its crude oil supplies from Russia amid indications that Moscow may further lower prices for India.
The Russia crude oil price was capped at USD 60 per barrel since December 2022, a decision taken by Group of Seven (G7) nations. However, the cap faced criticism for being largely ineffective in achieving its intended impact.
The European Union, last month lowered the oil price cap for buying Russian crude oil from the existing USD 60. For New Delhi, the lowered oil price cap opens possibility of getting crude at even lower rates from Moscow.
As the second-largest purchaser of Russian oil, India could benefit from the lowered price cap. Russian crude currently accounts for nearly 42 per cent of India’s total oil imports.
EU had also sanctioned the Russian Rosneft refinery in India. Rosneft holds a 49.13% stake in Nayara Energy Ltd, formerly Essar Oil Ltd. Nayara operates a 20-million-tonne-per-year oil refinery in Vadinar, Gujarat, and manages over 6,750 petrol pumps.
The Modi government has so far shown no intention of scaling back crude oil imports from Russia despite Trump’s mounting pressure and threats of additional tariffs and penalties.
On Monday night, the Ministry of External Affairs gave a sharp retort to the US, stating that the “targeting of India is unjustified and unreasonable”.
“India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security,” the MEA said amid threats asking New Delhi to cut down on Russian crude oil imports.
The MEA said Europe-Russia trade includes not just energy, but also fertilizers, mining products, chemicals, iron and steel and machinery and transport equipment. It also cited how US continues to import from Russia uranium hexafluoride for its nuclear industry, palladium for its EV industry, fertilizers as well as chemicals.
The visits by Doval and Jaishankar to Russia follow Trump’s sharp criticism last week, during which he labelled India and Russia as “dead economies” and announced a 25 per cent tariff on Indian goods, along with penalties for countries maintaining strategic trade ties with Moscow.
India