India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar completed a three-day visit to Moscow, co-chairing the 26th session of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation with First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov. Manturov said Russia sees “potential for LNG exports to India” and aims to broaden civil nuclear collaboration, underscoring energy as the centrepiece of the partnership. At a joint press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Jaishankar said bilateral goods trade has risen more than five-fold to US$68 billion since 2021 and called for removing non-tariff barriers to correct New Delhi’s growing deficit. Both ministers endorsed a target of lifting annual commerce to US$100 billion within five years and signed terms of reference to launch free-trade negotiations between India and the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union. Jaishankar later met President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin, inviting Russian companies to invest “more intensively” in India and confirming preparations for an annual summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Putin, who is expected to visit India before year-end. The Indian minister defended his country’s continued purchases of discounted Russian oil despite U.S. tariffs that could rise to 50 %, arguing that other major economies remain larger buyers of Russian crude and LNG. Lavrov said the two nations have achieved “good results” in hydrocarbons cooperation and are exploring joint resource extraction projects in Russia’s Far East and Arctic shelf. Both sides also reviewed developments in Ukraine, West Asia and Afghanistan, with Jaishankar reiterating India’s preference for dialogue and diplomacy while asserting its “sovereign right” to ensure energy security and combat terrorism.