Moscow/New Delhi, Aug 6 (UNI) National Security Advisor Ajit Doval is visiting Moscow to discuss the India-Russia strategic partnership and defence and security cooperation, TASS reported.
According to Tass, India’s top security official arrived on Tuesday on a scheduled visit.
The talks agenda is to centre around 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],” a source told Tass.
The visit comes amid US President Donald Trump’s threatening to significantly raise tariffs on India for its purchase of Russian oil.
On Tuesday, the US President said he will increase the 25% tariff on Indian exports to the US “substantially over the next 24 hours”, citing New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil as one of the reasons. India was “fueling the war machine, and if they’re going to do that, I’m not going to be happy,” Trump told CNBC.
Previously, the US President had announced 25% tariffs on Indian goods. He had also pointed out that India has “always bought a vast majority of their military equipment from Russia”, and is “Russia’s largest buyer of energy, along with China.”
On Monday, the Indian Foreign Ministry issued a statement terming the criticism from the US and EU over New Delhi’s imports of Russian oil as unjustified.
Significantly, NSA Doval’s visit comes as Russian Deputy Defence Minister Colonel General Aleksandr Fomin held a meeting with Indian Ambassador Vinay Kumar in Moscow, during which the two sides discussed bilateral cooperation in the defence sector.
“During the talks, the sides discussed topical issues of bilateral cooperation in the defence sphere, confirmed the focus on further strengthening the specialised cooperation in the form of a particularly privileged strategic partnership,” the Russian Defence Ministry said.
