With an aim to strengthen the long-standing partnership with Moscow, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that there is need to address issues between India and Russia to increase the two-way annual trade to $100 billion by 2030. To this effect, he said ‘we must continue efforts to conclude the India-Eurasian Economic Union free trade agreement and address non-tariff barriers and regulatory impediments and utilise the skilled Indian workforce’. He noted ‘In today's evolving geo-political dynamics, our engagement continues to deepen’.

Jaishankar said the evolving multipolar order requires greater cooperation between India and Russia, including through BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), G20 and the UN. He said India is looking forward to closely working with Russia to address shared challenges in a ‘balanced and inclusive manner’. He said ‘India and Russia share a special and privileged strategic partnership rooted in trust and mutual respect. Over decades, our mutually beneficial cooperation has advanced regional and global peace, stability and progress’. He also described Russia as India's ‘foremost partner’ in the civil nuclear energy sector. He said ‘As India aims to increase its nuclear energy generation capacity to 100 GW by 2047, I am confident that it will find a trusted and reliable partner in Russia for peaceful uses of nuclear energy’.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov praised India's ‘independent foreign policy’ and said that Russia looks forward to welcoming Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a visit this year. Lavrov said the ‘time-tested’ Russia-India friendship is a model on interstate relations based on mutual trust and respect. He said ‘New Delhi deserves the deepest respect for pursuing an independent foreign policy as part of its course toward strategic autonomy, consistently prioritising the national interest’. He added ‘The time-tested Russian-Indian friendship is a model of how interstate relations based on equality, mutual trust and respect, and consideration of each other's interests can and should be built’.