New Delhi, Aug. 21 -- Russia on Wednesday dismissed concerns about sanctions and tariffs imposed by the US and European Union (EU) hitting oil supplies to India, with senior Russian officials saying Moscow has a "very special mechanism" to get around punitive measures imposed by the Donald Trump administration to curb energy trade. Russia also remains a "partner of choice" for India in defence, and hostilities between India and Pakistan in May served as a "very successful battle test" for Russian weaponry such as the S-400 air defence system, charge d'affaires Roman Babushkin told a media briefing. He confirmed that President Vladimir Putin will travel to India later this year for an annual summit though dates are yet to be finalised. India is the second largest buyer of Russian oil after China, and Moscow accounts for almost 40% of the country's energy supplies. Purchases were significantly ramped up after the West slapped sanctions on Russia over the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The US is set to impose a 25% punitive tariff on Indian exports from August 28 over Russian oil purchases, which will be in addition to a 25% reciprocal tariff. Babushkin and deputy trade commissioner Evgeny Griva, however, were confident that Russia would be able to circumvent pressure from the US and its Western allies over energy trade with India. "Despite the political situation, we can predict that the level of crude oil imports would be approximately the same," Griva said. "Definitely, there are some mechanisms to supply crude oil. We can't discuss it because it's really a very special mechanism." Babushkin added: "This is not the first time our trade and economic relations [have been] threatened by external factors. But each and every time, we have managed to succeed in finding ways to cooperate further based on our mutual national interests. We are quite certain that our cooperation will continue." The officials said oil supplies to Vadinar refinery in Gujarat, jointly owned by Russian energy giant Rosneft and an investment consortium, hadn't been impacted after it was targeted under a EU sanctions package in July. The Vadinar facility, in which Rosneft has a 49.13% stake, is India's second largest single-site refinery with an annual capacity of 20 million metric tonnes (MMT). Russia has a mechanism to tackle shipping and insurance-related issues due to EU sanctions and crude is supplied directly to the refinery as it is a subsidiary of Rosneft, Griva said. "The recent package of sanctions against Russia from the EU would not have much impact on Russian oil trade because we have been able to significantly reduce our dependence on services the EU provides in recent years," Babushkin added. The officials, however, acknowledged that a 5% swing is possible in oil import prices amid the Western tariffs and sanctions, though this will be subject to negotiation. They also said that India and Russia were on track to achieve the target of driving bilateral trade to $100 billion by the year 2030, thanks to a stable growth of about 10% annually. Bilateral trade touched a record high of $68.7 billion in 2024-25, though India's exports were worth only $4.88 billion, and Babushkin said Russia is working to address the trade imbalance. "We need to reduce the trade imbalance, which is currently about $60 billion. We will remove barriers to trade, facilitate interaction within business circles and give a new push to alternative logistics corridors. And we will further develop our payments and transactions mechanisms," Babushkin said. Against the backdrop of strident criticism of India's purchases of Russian weaponry and military hardware by US President Donald Trump and senior American officials, Babushkin said Russia remains the "partner of choice for India" in defence and pointed to the joint development of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile since 1998. "We have dramatically expanded the programme of our joint engagements for co-production of various sophisticated weapons," he said. India used both the BrahMos missile and the S-400 air defence system during Operation Sindoor, launched on May 7 to target terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack, and the subsequent four days of hostilities between the two countries. The Russian-origin Su-30 combat jet was also used during the hostilities to fire the BrahMos missile, and a Pakistan surveillance aircraft was shot down at a distance of about 300 km by the S-400. The Russian officials were speaking hours after external affairs minister (EAM) S Jaishankar arrived in Moscow on Tuesday for talks with his counterpart Sergey Lavrov and to co-chair a meeting of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC) with deputy prime minister Denis Manturov. Babushkin said these engagements are part of preparations for Putin's planned visit later in the year for a summit with Modi. Putin also dialled Modi twice in the past fortnight to brief him on developments in Ukraine and his summit with Trump in Alaska....