Peskov stressed the “trusted” nature of the India–Russia relationship and praised New Delhi’s “friendly stand” during what he described as a difficult phase for Moscow. “We are proud to have been shoulder to shoulder with our Indian friends during their historic growth,” he said, adding that Russia values Modi’s engagement with Putin on the Ukraine conflict. “India listens to us, India hears us, and we truly appreciate that,” he noted, contrasting this with the lack of dialogue with European countries.

On trade, Peskov acknowledged the imbalance created by India’s rising imports of discounted Russian crude. “We are selling much more than we buy from India… We know our Indian friends are concerned. We are jointly looking at ways to increase imports from India. We want to buy more,” he said.

“Well, there is a real disbalance in our trade. And you’re totally right. And we are aware of that. We’re selling much more than we buy from India. We know that our Indian friends are concerned about that. By the way, we’re jointly looking for possibilities of increasing import, imports from India to Russia. So we want to buy more from India. So, during the visit of the president, actually, even I think one day prior to the visit, there will be a congress, a forum,” he said.

He also accused the US of using the dollar-denominated global financial system as a “political tool”, and called for an alternative architecture for international trade. At the same time, he welcomed Washington’s latest diplomatic push to end the Ukraine war, calling the mediation effort “very effective”. “We hope it will succeed. We are ready to contribute,” he said, hours before US envoy Steve Witcoff was scheduled to meet Putin.

Peskov’s remarks set the tone for next week’s summit, where Modi and Putin are expected to discuss defence cooperation, energy supplies and efforts to rebalance bilateral trade.-Agencies