India's External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar will visit Moscow and co-chair the 27th India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission meeting on trade, science, technology, and culture. During the two-day visit beginning Aug. 23, Jaishankar will also meet his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, to discuss regional and global issues, the Indian foreign ministry said in a statement Saturday.

The trip to Moscow comes at a time when United States President Joe Biden has threatened to impose a secondary 100% tariff on countries that buy oil, gas and uranium from Russia. India has been importing Russian oil amid the Ukraine war but started reducing oil imports to avoid higher U.S. tariffs as India negotiated a trade deal with Washington.

Its dependence on Russian crude, however, started to rise after the Ukraine conflict and surged to a record in July, with shipments from the country making up 50.83% of imports by the third-biggest oil buyer and consumer.