A day after Trump’s ‘Russian oil’ tariffs, Doval meets Putin in Kremlin

National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Kremlin on Thursday (August 7, 2025), officials here confirmed. Sources hinted at the significance of the meeting as it was held a day after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed additional tariffs on India, citing continued purchase of Russian oil by Indian entities.

Earlier, speaking to Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu, Mr. Doval said that plans for President Putin’s India visit are “almost finalised”. During his exchanges, the NSA thanked Russia for supporting India after the Pahalgam terrorist attack on April 22 and said India’s “strategic and special partnership” with Russia is of enhanced importance as the world is passing through a “tumultuous situation”.

“We have got a very special relationship and long relationship and we highly value our strategic partnership. We have had high-level engagements and these high-level engagements have contributed very substantially. We are very excited to learn about the visit of His Excellency President Putin to India, I think the dates are almost finalised now,” said Mr. Doval in his meeting with Mr. Shoigu. The Russian side, in a statement, said the two teams discussed bilateral cooperation in “multilateral formats and exchanged views on topical issues of international security.”

In a preparatory interaction on Wednesday (August 6, 2025), Indian Ambassador to Russia Vinay Kumar sat down with Russia’s Deputy Defence Minister Colonel General Aleksandr Fomin and discussed bilateral cooperation in defence-related matters. Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement that India-Russia military relationship will be “further strengthened” in the coming months. Ambassador Kumar accompanied Mr. Doval in the meeting with President Putin.

The two sides have been in discussions since the beginning of the year to firm up the details of President Putin’s visit to India. Mr. Putin last visited India on December 6, 2021, when India hosted the annual summit meeting at Hyderabad House. Two-and-a-half months later, on February 24, 2022, he ordered the “special military operation” against Ukraine which started the conflict that has lingered ever since. Prime Minister Modi visited Moscow in July 2024 when Russia hosted the 22nd Russia-India Annual Summit. In May, Kremlin had confirmed that President Putin will visit India this year for the next summit.

The two sides intensified consultation under all official-level mechanisms in recent weeks and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar also met his counterpart Sergey Lavrov twice in July – in Brazil during BRICS summit and in the Foreign Ministers-level meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in Tianjin, China.

“The more important thing is that the summit meetings have always been a watershed points. They have always given a new direction to our relationship,” said Mr. Doval to Mr. Shoigu conveying India’s readiness to host President Putin.

The Ministry of External Affairs had responded to President Trump’s latest declaration of tariffs on India as “extremely unfortunate”.

While officials here have not given a date for President Putin’s visit, the strain in India-U.S. relations has set the stage for high-level engagement between New Delhi and Moscow. The Hindu has reported that Prime Minister Modi is due to carry out an outreach to East Asia towards the end of August when he is expected to visit Japan and another country. Thursday (August 7, 2025) evening also witnessed a telephone conversation between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazil’s President Lula. Prime Minister Modi said after the phone call, “A strong people-centric partnership between Global South nations benefits everyone.”

The current foreign policy atmospherics featured in Mr. Doval’s engagements in Moscow who said to Mr. Shoigu, “Excellency, you said that the world is passing through a very tumultuous situation and there is some unpredictability and uncertainty and in an environment like this our old strategic and privileged partnership has got a very special role.”