Russian Foreign Minister To Visit India This Week: Report

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is likely to visit India this week, Reuters reports.

The two countries are slated to discuss the easing of trade payments that have been disrupted due to western sanctions on Moscow’s banks.

However, both the Russian embassy in New Delhi as well as India’s foreign ministry did not confirm this development to the aforementioned news agency.

Lavrov is also scheduled to hold a meeting in China on Thursday.

India has actually bought 13 million barrels of deeply-discounted Russian crude oil ever since the war began between Moscow and Kyiv.

New Delhi is also looking to double its imports of Russian coking coal, which is an important component in making steel.

Further, India has also gotten into a contract to purchase 45,000 tonnes of Russian sunflower oil for delivery in April.

The government has been working towards setting up a rupee-rouble trade system. Though such a mechanism hasn’t materialised yet, discussions regarding the same are ongoing between the Indian and Russian financial officials.

The centre is also reportedly considering permitting Russia to use its funds lying with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to invest in Indian corporate bonds.