S. Jaishankar is expected to discuss key bilateral issues with Sergey Lavrov
Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar will visit Moscow next week and hold key bilateral discussions with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
The talks, which will be held on August 21, will also focus on Russia-India cooperation on major international issues. “The ministers will discuss key issues on our bilateral agenda, as well as key aspects of cooperation within international frameworks,”Russia’s Foreign Ministry stated.
The two ministers last met on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro in July.
Jaishankar will take part in the 26th session of the Intergovernmental Russian-Indian Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technical, and Cultural Cooperation, which is the key mechanism for monitoring bilateral progress across sectors, Moscow noted. The last meeting of the commission took place in November 2024 in India and was chaired by Jaishankar and Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov.
Since 2022, the two countries have significantly strengthened economic ties, with Moscow becoming New Delhi’s main energy supplier. Trade between the two nations is estimated to have reached $66 billion in 2024, with a target of $100 billion by 2030.
Jaishankar’s Moscow trip comes close on the heels of a visit by Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval to the Russian capital, where he met with President Vladimir Putin and held talks with Russian Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu and Manturov last week.
Putin is expected to visit India later this year for the annual India-Russia summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. According to India’s ambassador to Russia, Vinay Kumar, the two leaders share a “positive chemistry.”
Putin and Modi spoke in a phone call on Friday and discussed the latest developments in the Ukraine peace process. The Russian president is set to meet his US counterpart, Donald Trump, in Alaska later this week to discuss the conflict.
