India wants to strengthen its energy ties with Russia and could seek deals with Rosneft ROSN.MM and other leading Russian oil firms as part of a broader push to boost bilateral trade, Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra said on Tuesday.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin have set a target of increasing bilateral trade to $100 billion from about $65 billion at present, Kwatra told a news conference after the two leaders met in Moscow.

“The two leaders when they spoke of cooperation in the (energy) sector, they did focus on how exactly to strengthen that partnership,” Kwatra said.

“(And) in the similar vein, how exactly India in particular through the government-to-government route could also build partnerships with Rosneft and other energy entities,” he added.

India has emerged as the biggest buyer of Russian seaborne oil sold at a discount as Western entities shun purchases due to a raft of sanctions imposed on Russian over its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Helen Popper)