India and Russia have entered “advanced negotiations” over a free trade agreement that aims to build closer economic ties as most western governments push to isolate Moscow over the war in Ukraine.
In a development likely to add to tensions in Washington, London and EU capitals, Russia and India’s trade ministers said on Monday the two countries were in talks to strike a free trade deal.
Speaking on a visit to Delhi, the Russian deputy prime minister Denis Manturov, who is also the trade minister, said: “Together with the Eurasian Economic Commission, we are looking forward to intensifying negotiations on a free trade agreement with India.”
The Indian foreign minister, S Jaishankar, said the Covid pandemic had disrupted discussions between India and the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union on a trade deal, and that he hoped “our colleagues will pick up on this … because we do believe it will make a real difference to our trade relationship”.
Jaishankar said “advanced negotiations” were taking place, according to the Times of India, while describing Delhi’s position with Moscow as among the “steadiest” of major relationships in the world.
It comes as Narendra Modi’s government also holds trade talks with Britain and the EU, in a development likely to stoke tensions with the west before India hosts the G20 summit in Delhi this autumn.
The UK is holding an eighth round of trade talks this spring over a free trade agreement with India, which Kemi Badenoch, the trade secretary, has suggested could be concluded as early as this year.
Modi’s government has not explicitly criticised Russia’s war in Ukraine, but has called for a peaceful resolution of the conflict. Trade between Russia and India has jumped since the invasion, despite western efforts to impose sanctions on Moscow and to cut Russia out of global supply lines.
Highlighting its willingness to trade with Russia, the Indian finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, said on Monday the country could buy Russian crude oil near or past the level of a G7 price cap on its exports, if Opec’s decision earlier this month to cut output increased global prices.
Russia, an important supplier of military hardware to India, displaced Iraq last month to become India’s top supplier of crude oil, according to Reuters. Before Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year, India bought very little oil from Russia.
Russia discussing trade ties with India comes as Putin attempts to build closer relations outside the west, including welcoming the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, to Moscow last month. China and Russia vowed this week to deepen military cooperation after meetings between Putin and the Chinese defence minister, Li Shangfu, in Moscow.
