S Jaishankar to start his Russia visit for bilateral talks today amid Ukraine conflict

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will begin his two-day visit to Russia on today, continuing the monthly high-level communication between the two countries as the conflict in Ukraine approaches its ninth month. He will meet with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov of Russia.

The two groups will likely discuss a wide variety of topics, from bilateral concerns to regional and global trends.

As part of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological, and Cultural Cooperation, S Jaishankar will meet with Denis Manturov, the Russian Federation's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade and Industry (IRIGC-TEC).

"Issues pertaining to bilateral economic cooperation in various domains will be discussed," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) release said in an earlier release.

President Putin of Russia has recently praised Indians, which may have prompted S Jaishankar's visit. Putin said on November 4th, Russia's Unity Day, that India has a great deal of potential and that he has no doubts it would achieve remarkable achievements in terms of growth.

"India will achieve outstanding results in terms of its development - there are no doubts - and almost one-and-a-half billion people: now that's potential," the Russian President said, according to a Reuters translation of the speech originally delivered in Russian.

India's bilateral relations with Russia have been under scrutiny from the West due to an increase in oil imports from sanction-plagued Moscow since the beginning of the Ukraine crisis earlier this year. A considerable effect on global food security and a dramatic surge in crude prices have resulted from the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, which has now lasted for more than eight months.

Unlike many other countries, India has taken a neutral stance toward the crisis and has not denounced Russia. New Delhi has repeatedly urged a halt to violence and pushed for peaceful negotiation and compromise on multiple UN platforms.

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S Jaishankar said on Wednesday that the turmoil in Ukraine has greatly expanded the potential targets of political leverage, including commerce, debt, and even tourism.

"This emanates from the weaponisation of everything. In recent years, we have already seen, how trade, connectivity, debt, resources and even tourism have become the point of political pressure. The Ukraine conflict has dramatically widened the scope of such leveraging," S Jaishankar said, during a lecture at the IIM Calcutta, while speaking on the topic of "India and the World".

The scope of the measures, he claimed, has been "breathtaking," including the limits on technology, infrastructure, and services, and the confiscation of assets. The minister continued by saying that the intensifying rivalry between big powers is obviously causing stress factors in a variety of arenas.