Deputy Chief of mission in the Russian embassy in Delhi, Roman Babushkin, said President Putin plans to visit India this year, even as he said the schedule will be firmed up soon.

On the Russia-India ties in the evolving geopolitical scenario, he said, “This is the true strategic partnership we are enjoying. Whatever happens, even during challenges, we are committed to removing any problems…The recent phone call by President Putin to PM Modi, explaining and sharing the information about recent developments in Ukraine, means India matters a lot to Russia.”

Babushkin, who was addressing reporters hours before External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met Russian First Deputy PM Denis Manturov in Moscow, said, “We are capable of finding any solution for mutual satisfaction. The deepening of our partnership will help us grow together.” Jaishankar is scheduled to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday.

Calling Russia a “partner of choice” for India in terms of defence purchases, Babushkin said, “Russia has been a partner of choice for India’s requirement of various military platforms and hardware.” He said defence cooperation between the two countries is set to expand in the time to come.

Babushkin also called American pressure on India to stop buying Russian oil as "unjustified", even as he said India’s demands were growing and Russia remains the biggest supplier of crude oil to India. He said they don’t expect New Delhi to stop buying Russian oil.

“Russia is the largest producer of oil and India is the largest consumer. Any kind of unilateral action leads to disruptions in supply chains, imbalance in pricing policies and destabilisation of global markets, endangering the energy security of developing countries,” he said.

On US President Donald Trump announcing an additional 25 per cent tariff on India earlier this month, Babushkin said, “It is a challenging situation for India. We are enjoying trust in our partnership with India and we are committed to address challenges that may come in the energy ties between the two counties.”

“I want to highlight that despite the political situation, we can predict the same level of oil import (by India),” Babushkin said.

At the briefing, Russia’s Deputy Trade Commissioner Evgeny Griva said buying oil from Russia is “very profitable” for India, which will not want to change its supplier. He said Russia has a “very, very special mechanism” to continue oil supplies to India.

Babushkin said this wasn’t the first time the US has threatened such sanctions and that India and Russia have, in the past also, found ways to overcome this. “We have seen this problem of sanctions for many years now, but our trade is growing. In recent years, our trade has grown by seven times,” he said.

“If the West criticises you, it means you are doing everything right…We don’t expect that to happen (India to stop buying oil from India). We know about the challenging circumstances for India,” he said. “The sanctions are hitting those who are imposing them. We are confident that India-Russia energy cooperation will continue notwithstanding the external pressure.”

“If hypothetically speaking, India refuses to procure Russian oil, it will not lead to mutually beneficial cooperation with the West. They (Western powers) are behaving like neo-colonial powers,” the Russian diplomat said. “This pressure is unjustified and unilateral….”

Babushkin also called BRICS “as a stabilising force” amid the ongoing global turbulence, and welcomed India and China moving ahead to repair ties, expressed optimism about the resumption of the India-Russia-China trilateral format, describing it as a vital step toward regional stability.

Signalling hope for the revival of the trilateral format RIC framework, he said, “We are quite hopeful that this format will be resumed sooner rather than later because its importance is not questioned. But we should wait until the right time comes. We would welcome these developments because they proved their efficiency when we had regular interaction at the ministerial level and even at the leaders’ level.” India, however, has been non-committal about resumption of the RIC format, even as Beijing has been pushing for it.

“It is all about the regional stability of the region, which is mostly dependent on how the relations between the three countries, the largest countries in the region, Russia, India and China, are developing,” he added.

On the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, scheduled to take place from August 31 to September 1 at Tianjin, China, he said, “We are all preparing to attend the SCO summit at the highest political level. Recently, in the engagements with the Chinese Foreign Minister, the Indian side confirmed the participation of the Prime Minister’s attendance at the summit.” He expressed a likelihood of a bilateral meeting between PM Modi and President Putin on the sidelines.-Agencies