 "India and Russia share a historical relationship and it seems that Trump's tariffs won't change it. File image/PTI")
India is in no mood to back down.
Amid the continuous threats from US President Donald Trump, India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval has reached Russia for a visit focused on strengthening India’s defence and energy ties with Russia.
While the trip was pre-planned, it has assumed greater significance, as the US president said on Tuesday that he would increase the tariffs charged on Indian imports “very substantially” over the next 24 hours because of New Delhi’s continued purchases of Russian oil.
And Doval isn’t the only Indian leader in Russia. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is also expected to visit Moscow later this month.
As tensions between India and the US increase over the purchase of Russian oil, we examine the India-Russia partnership and why it remains significant for New Delhi.
Doval’s visit to Moscow
On Tuesday (August 5), NSA Doval arrived in Russia for a high-level visit to strengthen ties between the two nations.
According to reports, Doval will hold closed-door meetings with senior Russian officials to discuss regional stability, counterterrorism cooperation, and energy security. An Economic Times report said that India is looking to purchase additional S-400 defence systems which contributed to India’s success in Operation Sindoor against Pakistan. There are also rumours that India is exploring purchase of Su-57 fighter jets from Russia.
According to Russian media outlet TASS, the visit is part of a planned schedule and will focus on defence cooperation between India and Russia. “The current escalation of the geopolitical situation will also be discussed. Apart from that the topics will include such pressing matters as supplies of Russian oil [to India],” the source said.
Trump’s threats to India on Russian oil
Notably, Doval’s visit comes amid criticisms and threats from US President Donald Trump over the issue of Russian oil. On Tuesday, in his latest attack , he told CNBC in an interview, “India has not been a good trading partner, because they do a lot of business with us, but we don’t do business with them. So we settled on 25 per cent but I think I’m going to raise that very substantially over the next 24 hours, because they’re buying Russian oil.”
These remarks by the American leader came a day after he said that he would “substantially” raise US tariffs on India and had accused New Delhi of buying oil from Russia and selling it for profits. In fact, over the past few days, the US president and members of his administration have been highly critical of India’s purchase of Russian oil.
His Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, as well his Deputy White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Stephen Miller , have questioned India’s purchase of Russian oil with the former stating that it was a “point of irritation” in the ties between the two nations, while Miller accused India of financing Russia’s war against Ukraine.
However, India has stood its ground with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) stating that its purchase of Russian oil was a “necessity” and called out US and Europe for singling it out.
The MEA in a statement said that the nations criticising India are themselves “indulging in trade with Russia” even when “such trade is not even a vital compulsion”.
“Europe-Russia trade includes not just energy, but also fertilisers, mining products, chemicals, iron and steel and machinery and transport equipment,” read an official statement.
India further said that it would take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security.
History of India-Russia ties
India’s ties with Russia go way beyond just the oil trade. The two countries established diplomatic relations in April 1947 — even before India attained independence — and since then the two nations have shared extremely close ties.
Through the years, India and Russia have supported each other; for instance, during the 1965 war between India and Pakistan, Russia, then the Soviet Union, played a mediating role and hosted the so-called Tashkent summit in 1966 where a peace treaty was signed.
Moreover, during the 1971 war between India and Pakistan, Russia supported New Delhi — marking perhaps the peak of the Indo-Soviet relationship. Experts note that the 1971 Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation between India and the Soviet Union was the result of American diplomats quietly reducing security commitments to India as they sought to normalise their relations with China.
Even post the Cold War period, India and Russia continued their ties — annual summits have been held since 2000, when a strategic partnership was signed (and subsequently upgraded in 2010). India and Russia have also been holding 2+2 meetings — joint meetings with foreign and defence ministers – since 2021.
Present and future of India-Russia ties
Even amid the Russia-Ukraine war, India has maintained its ties with Moscow — with Prime Minister Narendra Modi even visiting Vladimir Putin in July last year. In fact, External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar has referred to the India–Russia relationship as the one constant in global politics over the last half century.
India has also refrained from voting against Russia in the UN Security Council.
India’s friendship with Russia is both practical as well as strategic. When India conducted its first nuclear test in 1974, the Soviet Union did not shun cooperation with India — unlike the US.
Moreover, Russia has been a huge supplier of weapons to India. In the early 1990s, the USSR represented about 70 per cent of Indian Army weapons, 80 per cent of its Air Force systems, and 85 per cent of its Navy platforms. Today, that number has reduced to a total of 36 per cent, as per a report published by Sweden-based Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri).
Experts note that India has been reducing its dependency on Russian arms and diversifying its defense procurements, buying more from countries like the US, Israel, France and Italy.
In the energy sector too, Russia has been a partner to India. Russian oil now accounts for nearly 40 per cent of India’s annual crude imports, up from just two percent in 2021. The two countries also cooperate on nuclear energy. Russia’s state nuclear power provider Rosatom has an agreement in place to build six nuclear power reactors in India.
There is also a long-standing economic relationship. India and Russia aim to increase bilateral trade from $68 billion to $100 billion by the end of this decade. Connectivity initiatives include the Chennai-Vladivostok maritime corridor and the International North-South Transport Corridor.
Culturally too, India and Russia share strong ties. Since August 2023, Indian travellers have already been eligible for e-visas to Russia, which are typically processed within four days. And last December, there were reports that Russia would soon allow Indian travellers to visit without a visa.
It will be interesting to see how India-Russia navigate their ties in the face of Trump’s rising threats. But if history is any indicator, it’s safe to say that the Indo-Russia ‘bhai bhai’ feeling isn’t going anywhere in the near future.
With inputs from agencies