Sanctions, imposed by the West on Russia for invading Ukraine, have badly hit the Kremlin’s trade ties with India. However, the Narendra Modi Administration in New Delhi continues importing fuel from Moscow, ignoring the restrictions. In such a scenario, the Government of President Vladimir Putin has decided to promote long-standing trade ties with India. Reuters has reported that sanctions-hit Russia recently urged India to supply 500 products for key sectors to Moscow.

Russia’s economic dealings with the West have been frozen for the time being, as a result of the sanctions. The West has also closed its market for the Russian industrialists. Several Russian banks and financial institutions, too, are under sanctions. In this situation, Moscow has sent a list of 500 items, which includes cars, aircraft, trains and various marine parts and equipment, to New Delhi, as Russia wants to import these items from India. Political analysts have opined that these items would help Russia keep its transport system operational during the war.

Reuters has reported that various other materials, such as machinery and equipment used in factories, raw materials for the production of commercial items, metals and chemicals, too, have been included in that list. Currently, Russia is unable to import those items from the Western World due to sanctions.

Meanwhile, the Government of India is yet to confirm the news reported by Reuters. However, a source close to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs has stated that External Affairs Minister Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar visited Moscow on November 7, 2022. During his visit, India and Russia discussed various aspects of bilateral financial and trade ties in the context of Western sanctions imposed on the Kremlin. However, neither India nor Russia has revealed the detailed information on exactly which items Moscow wants to import from New Delhi.

A couple of months ago, Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said that India wanted to maintain close defence and trade ties with Russia, despite Western sanctions on Moscow. He also said that although India did not trigger the war between Russia and Ukraine, it was facing the heat. The sanctions have affected the Indo-Russian trade ties. “We have a long history of engagement with Russia on trade items and defence equipment. Now, it has to be seen how this relationship can be taken forward, despite the restrictions,” stated Shringla.

It seems that President Putin and Prime Minister Modi would try to achieve the goal set by the officials of two countries in November 2022.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das