External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday met Russian President Vladimir Putin and is understood to have discussed ways to further expand India-Russia ties.

The meeting came hours after Jaishankar held wide-ranging talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that largely focused on expanding the trade ties between the two countries.

"We believe that relations between India and Russia have been among the steadiest of the major relationships in the world after the Second World War," Jaishankar said at a joint media briefing with Lavrov.

"Geo-political convergence, leadership contacts and popular sentiment remain its key drivers," he said.

The external affairs minister landed in Moscow on Tuesday to fine tune various elements of President Putin's visit to India either in November or December.

The meeting comes amid rising tensions rise between New Delhi and Washington over India’s continued imports of discounted Russian crude, with the US slapping a combined 50% tariffs on Indian imports.

On Wednesday, Russia said it had activated a “special mechanism” to shield its energy partnership with India from possible US sanctions.

Russia's Charge d’Affaires Roman Babushkin defended India’s energy ties with Russia, calling Western pressure “unjustified” and “neo-colonial.”

His comments followed renewed warnings from US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent about possible secondary sanctions, in addition to existing tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.