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The meeting took place just hours after Jaishankar held discussions with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, with the talks centering on strengthening trade relations between the two nations.
During a joint media briefing with Lavrov, Jaishankar said India is neither the largest buyer of Russian oil nor the country that has seen the biggest post-2022 trade surge with Moscow.
“We are not the biggest purchasers of Russian oil. That is China. We are not the biggest purchasers of Russian LNG, I am not sure, but I think that is the European Union. We are not the country which has the biggest trade surge with Russia after 2022, I think there are some countries to the south.”
“We are a country where actually the Americans said, for the last few years, that we should do everything to stabilise the world’s energy markets, including buying oil from Russia. We also buy oil from America, and that amount has been increasing. So quite honestly, we are very perplexed at the logic of the argument,” he said.
The External Affairs minister, who landed in Moscow on Tuesday is on a three-day visit to Russia.
A day earlier Jaishankar held talks with Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov, stressing the need to unlock the “full potential of trade and investment ties.”
On trade and economic cooperation, Jaishankar said after the meeting, “We reaffirmed our shared ambition to expand bilateral trade in a balanced and sustainable manner, including by increasing India’s exports to Russia. This requires swiftly addressing non-tariff barriers and regulatory impediments. Enhancing Indian exports to Russia in sectors like pharmaceuticals, agriculture and textiles will certainly help to correct the current imbalance.”
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He added that “steps to ensure long-term supply of fertilisers were also taken up. Indian skilled workers, especially in IT, construction and engineering, can address the labour needs in Russia and deepen collaboration. Sustaining energy cooperation through trade and investments is also important.”
