National Security Adviser Ajit Doval will hold meetings with senior Russian officials in Moscow on Thursday, just a day after the U.S. decided to impose an additional 25% penalty tariffs on India for its import of Russian oil.

According to sources, Mr. Doval’s visit is intended to prepare details for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Delhi later this year. However, U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest action, which the government called “extremely unfortunate”, is expected to dominate talks. India is the second largest buyer of Russian crude oil after China.

Although the visit had been scheduled weeks earlier, the government’s decision to go ahead with the NSA’s travel appears to underline its intention to defy the U.S. actions.

“The current escalation of the geopolitical situation will also be discussed. Apart from that, the topics will include such pressing matters as supplies of Russian oil [to India],” Russia’s official TASS agency reported.

Ahead of the NSA’s visit, Indian Ambassador to Russia Vinay Kumar met with Russia’s Deputy Defence Minister Colonel General Aleksandr Fomin for talks, the Russian MFA said, that focused on “further strengthening the specialised cooperation in the form of a particularly privileged strategic partnership”

Among talks on defence cooperation, Mr. Doval is also expected to speak about the delivery of the remaining S-400 missile systems, that played an important role during the India-Pakistan conflict and Operation Sindoor in May this year. This is the NSA’s first visit to Moscow since Operation Sindoor, although he attended the SCO NSA meeting in Beijing in June, and met with Mr. Shoigu’s deputy, Russia’s Security Council Deputy Secretary Aleksandr Venediktov there. In addition, Russia’s recent decision to grant recognition to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan is also expected to come up.

The two sides will also possibly discuss the latest moves for talks between Russia and Ukraine, after the Kremlin said on Tuesday that U.S. Special envoy Steve Witkoff would be in Moscow to meet Mr. Putin.

Announcing the upcoming visit of Mr. Witkoff on Tuesday, Mr. Putin’s Presidential aide Dmitry Peskov said Mr. Putin was prepared to meet Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after expert-level talks but gave no timeline for the meeting.

When asked about Mr. Trump’s threats against India, Mr. Peskov said Russia believes “sovereign countries must have, and do have, the right to choose their trade partners, on their own, and independently determine those modes of trade and economic cooperation that suit the interests of a country in question”.

Later this month, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will also visit Moscow for talks on the visit, which has been delayed for several years due to the Ukraine conflict which began in February 2022. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited Moscow last July, reviving the summit after a gap of three years.

Since 2022, India increased its oil imports from Russia multi-fold, defying pleas from European countries to stop increasing Russian revenues, from procuring less than a per cent of its imports from Russia, to nearly 40% of its oil at its peak.

After the U.S. announced plans for penalty tariffs on India last week, many Indian oil importers have reduced their demand, although the government said it would not submit to the tariffs by the U.S. and sanctions by the European Union.

In its statement on Monday (August 4, 2025), the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had also pointed out that the U.S. and the EU continue to trade on other goods with Russia.