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External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar began his five-day-visit to Russia on Tuesday, 26 December, by meeting with representatives of the country's strategic community, and discussed matters such as regional conflicts, connectivity, and multilateralism.
During his stay in Moscow, the EAM will hold talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov and discuss various bilateral and global matters.
According to the MEA's readout:
In a post on X, Jaishankar said, "Spoke about the importance of rebalancing and the emergence of multipolarity."
"Geopolitics and strategic convergence will always keep India-Russia ties on a positive trajectory," he added.
This is the second year in a row that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has skipped the annual summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The last summit was held back on 6 December 2021 during Putin's visit to India, with the meeting not taking place in 2022. Moreover, Putin also skipped the G20 Leaders' Summit in New Delhi in September 2023 and also the SCO Summit held virtually.
Alongside the invite, which the EAM would have roughly received at the age of 7, was a current picture of him at Red Square titled “How it started”, and “How it is going”.
The continuing problems over the rupee-rouble payment mechanism amid a surge in the import of Russian oil and bilateral trade and delays in supplies of defence equipment.
During April 2020 to March 2021, India and Russia witnessed bilateral trade totaling $8.1 billion, notes the Indian Embassy in Russia. Indian exports reached $2.6 billion, while imports from Russia stood at $5.48 billion.
Russian data, however, reports a trade volume of $9.31 billion, with Indian exports at $3.48 billion and imports at $5.83 billion, as per India's embassy in Russia, news agency ANI reported.
The MEA said that Jaishankar will hold discussions on bilateral, multilateral and international issues and also discuss cultural and people-to-people ties.
On Monday, Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Maria Zakharova said. “The full-format negotiations between the heads of Russian and Indian Foreign Affairs Ministries are scheduled on December 27."
Amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict, India secured discounted Russian oil, in an attempt to nurse domestic inflationary pressures.
Moreover, While not explicitly denouncing the invasion, India condemned the Bucha massacre and expressed concern over Russian nuclear remarks and despite Western pressure, India advocated for diplomatic resolutions.
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