New Delhi

Amidst US President Donald Trump’s threat to stall trade deal talks with India over the tariff issue, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva – who had earlier snubbed Trump’s offer of negotiations over tariff saying he doesn’t want to be humiliated – while National Security Adviser Ajit Doval held talks in Moscow and met President Vladimir Putin.

Brazil is the chair of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and one of the fastest growing economies of the world.  Trump has accused BRICS of planning to overthrow the dominance of the US dollar and float its currency.

Prime Minister Modi announced his telephonic conversation with Lula on X:

Had a good conversation with President Lula. Thanked him for making my visit to Brazil memorable and meaningful. We are committed to deepening our Strategic Partnership including in trade, energy, tech, defence, health and more. A strong, people-centric partnership between Global…

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 7, 2025

Without naming US or Trump Modi on Wednesday made it clear that India is in no mood to bow to the US for concessions in tariff.

Interestingly, amidst all this, the US statement department on Thursday stated that "India is a strategic partner" and that the US is engaging with India in "full and frank dialogue" even as relations between the two countries continue to witness tension amid the tariff dispute

The White House on Wednesday issued an Executive Order imposing an additional 25 percentage points in tariffs on Indian goods, raising the total levy to 50%. The administration cited national security and

Meanwhile Doval’s engagements in Moscow raised eyebrows in the global circles as he met President Vladimir Putin.

The video of Putin welcoming Doval in his office was released on X:

🇷🇺🇮🇳 #Russia’s President Vladimir Putin received #India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Kumar Doval at the Kremlin.#RussiaIndia#DruzhbaDosti@PMOIndia @narendramodi pic.twitter.com/d9Kx3OwyoY

— Russia in India 🇷🇺 (@RusEmbIndia) August 7, 2025

Doval, who holds the rank of a cabinet minister, held Secretary of Russia’s Security Council Sergey Shoigu and participated  in the 11th Session of the India-Russia Working Group on Modernisation and Industrial Cooperation under the framework of the India-Russia Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation.

Doval told Shoigu, "We are very excited and delighted to learn about the visit of His Excellency, the President of Russia, President Putin, to India. I think that the dates are almost finalized now. The more important thing is that the summit meetings have always been a watershed point.”

Indian embassy in Nowcow posted these images of the Doval-Sergey Shoigu talks on X:

🇷🇺🇮🇳 On August 7, Secretary of #Russia’s Security Council Sergey Shoigu held talks with #India’s NSA Ajit Doval.

The parties discussed ways to further strengthen the #RussiaIndia special & privileged strategic partnership.

More details 👉🏻 https://t.co/cRbJu4tTP6#DruzhbaDosti pic.twitter.com/pqXj0aVqDL

— Russia in India 🇷🇺 (@RusEmbIndia) August 7, 2025

He said, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited Russia in July last year and he and President Vladimir Putin highly appreciated the special nature of this time-tested relationship, which is based on trust, mutual understanding and strategic convergence.

According to a joint statement after a meeting between the two leaders, they positively assessed the multi-faceted, mutually beneficial India-Russia relations that span all possible areas of cooperation, including political and strategic, military and security, trade and investment, energy, science and technology, nuclear, space, cultural, education and humanitarian cooperation.

"It was noted with satisfaction that both sides are actively exploring new avenues for cooperation while further strengthening cooperation in the traditional areas.

In a related development, a post of the Chinese envoy in Delhi in which he gave a terse yet subtle message to both India and the USA on the tariff issue has not gone unoticed:

Give the bully an inch, he will take a mile. pic.twitter.com/IMdIM9u1nd

— Xu Feihong (@China_Amb_India) August 7, 2025

Not unrelated to the gamut of movements in the Indian foreign office after Trump going balistic against India on tariff, Indian abbassadro to tel Aviv J P Singh has met President Benjamin Netanyahu:

Amb JP Singh called on the Hon'ble PM of Israel @netanyahu today. Reaffirming the strength of the friendship between the two countries; PM stressed on the need to further deepen the India-Israel Strategic Partnership. Amb conveyed the greetings of PM @narendramodi and assured to… pic.twitter.com/LSzkAS1tZm

— India in Israel (@indemtel) August 7, 2025