India-Russia Ties

Ukraine's First Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzhaparova will begin a four-day visit to India on Sunday, the first official visit from the East European country since the Russian invasion began last year. Dzhaparova will hold talks with Sanjay Verma, Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). It is expected that the Ukrainian deputy foreign minister may extend an invitation for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit Ukraine. The MEA announced Dzhaparova's visit to India in a statement on Saturday. The First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Emine Dzhaparova will be on an official visit to India from April 9 to 12," it said. It said Dzhaparova will hold talks with Verma, during which both sides are expected to discuss bilateral relations, exchange views on the current situation in Ukraine and global issues of mutual interest. Dzhaparova will also call on Minister of State for External Affairs and Culture Meenakshi Lekhi and meet Deputy National Security

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that relations between his country and the US are experiencing "a deep crisis"

Hypersonic weapon systems are advanced military technologies that can travel at speeds of Mach 5 or higher. Mach 1 defines the speed of sound

Russia and India are looking at expanding the use of the Northern Sea shipping route that passes through the Artic and which could include the building of processing facilities

Russian flag carrier Aeroflot has increased the frequency of its flight services on the Delhi-Moscow route to seven times a week against four weekly services earlier, from March 26, a statement said on Monday. In addition, the airline has also started operating a Boeing 777 jet along with Airbus A330 to cater to passenger traffic between the two capital cities, Delmos Aviation, which handles cargo operations for Aeroflot in India, said in the statement. India and Russia "in principle" agreed to revise their bilateral air services agreement earlier this month, allowing Russian carriers to operate up to 64 flights per week from 52 to India. Russian carriers are allowed to operate these flights to six Indian cities -- Delhi, Mumbai, Goa, Kolkata, Amritsar and Ahmedabad. Aeroflot has commenced daily flight services on the Delhi-Moscow route from March 26. The airline will operate both Boeing 777 and Airbus A330 with a total seating capacity of 410 and 293, respectively, in three class

China's President Xi Jinping told a grinning Vladimir Putin 'change is coming' in an ominous parting message as he departed Moscow following talks with his Russian counterpart, the media reported

India is the third largest oil importer, and Russia became its leading supplier after Europe shunned Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine last year

India's imports of crude oil from Russia soared to a record 1.6 million barrels per day in February and is now higher than combined imports from traditional suppliers Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Russia continued to be the single largest supplier of crude oil, which is converted into petrol and diesel at refineries, for a fifth straight month by supplying more than one-third of all oil India imported, according to energy cargo tracker Vortexa. Refiners continue to snap up plentiful Russian cargoes available at a discount to other grades. From a market share of less than 1 per cent in India's import basket before the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in February 2022, Russia's share of India's imports rose to 1.62 million barrels per day in February, taking a 35 per cent share. India, the world's third-largest crude importer after China and the United States, has been snapping Russian oil that was available at a discount after some in the West shunned it as a means of punishing Moscow

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday arrived in India for the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting (G20 FMM). Lavrov will also attend Raisina Dialogue 2023

I don't think they're going to end those relations anytime soon, but we are talking to them about the role they can play in this conflict, Lu added

Annual arms exports were about $14 billion to $15 billion, and the order book has remained steady at around $50 billion, Interfax reported

There are fortunes to be made delivering Russian crude oil to India

As the US focuses on the Indo-Pacific, in particular the Quad, the Biden administration needs to address India's ties with Russia and its "downward trend of democratic values and institutions", said a report by the Democratic Party of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee. The report has called for supporting a strong and democratic India. Senate Foreign Affairs Chairman Senator Robert Menendez Thursday said the US needs to approach the Indo-Pacific with a well-resourced, whole-of-government approach that synchronizes the military-security elements with diplomatic, economic, and civil society elements to ensure the greatest chance of success. The "Strategic Alignment: The Imperative of Resourcing the Indo-Pacific Strategy", a Majority Staff Report, was released by Menendez on Thursday. "I believe that President Biden's Indo-Pacific Strategy, released one year ago, adopts this whole-of-government approach. If fully equipped with the tools that it needs to be successful, this strategy

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval called on Russian President Vladimir Putin and agreed to continue work towards implementing the India-Russia strategic partnership, the Indian embassy in Moscow said on Thursday. "NSA Ajit Doval called on HE President Putin. Wide-ranging discussion on bilateral and regional issues. Agreed to continue work towards implementing the India-Russia strategic partnership," the embassy tweeted. The Kremlin said President Putin met with heads of delegations taking part in the multilateral consultations on Afghanistan. On Wednesday, Doval attended the fifth multilateral meeting of Secretaries of Security Councils/NSAs on Afghanistan which was hosted by Russia. "We are also worried about attempts to use the situation in Afghanistan to allow extra-regional forces to expand or build their infrastructure," Putin said, according to the Kremlin. "These countries will create this under the pretext of countering international terrorism, but they are not doing ..

The India-Russia defence partnership will "never" be disrupted by the Western sanctions on Moscow, BrahMos Aerospace chief said on Wednesday, saying it's the "trust" that makes this partnership work. The West, led by the US, has imposed crippling sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. BrahMos Aerospace is a joint venture between India and Russia that specialises in nuclear-capable supersonic missiles. The company currently manufactures the BrahMos missile and is currently developing the BrahMos II, a hypersonic cruise missile. The West's attempts will not stop the Russia-India defence partnership, nor will it impact the company's operations, BrahMos Aerospace Indo-Russian Joint Venture Managing Director and CEO Atul Dinkar Rane told TASS, the official news agency of Russia. "My personal gut feeling it is never!" Rane said when asked whether Western countries could halt India-Russia defence and security cooperation. "And if someone tries, he will only f

Indian refiners and traders are concerned they may not be able to continue to settle trades in dollars, especially if the price of Russian crude rises above a cap imposed by the Group of Seven nations

"The Russians are not comfortable with the rupee invoicing as far as the gems and jewelry sector is concerned," said Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council

Amid the rising bilateral trade, India has been exploring a rupee trade settlement mechanism with Russia

The country is now easily India's biggest source of oil after overtaking Iraq and Saudi Arabia several months ago.

Russia, Sri Lanka, Mauritius and Bangladesh are some of the countries that are keen on rupee trade with India