(This story originally appeared in on Sep 10, 2018)

(This story was originally in the Economic Times on 10/09/2018.)Just days after upgrading defence ties with the United States, India will seek to enhance its strategic partnership with Russia as commerce minister Suresh Prabhu and external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj visit Vladivostok and Moscow, respectively, this week in keeping with its principle of strategic autonomy.While Prabhu will lead a highlevel delegation on a three-day trip starting Monday to the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok that will see presence of leaders of China, Japan and South Korea, Swaraj will be in Moscow on September 13-14 for the annual Inter Governmental Commission (IGC) meet. This will be her maiden meeting with Yuri Borisov, her new counterpart at the IGC.These meetings will help prepare for the Indo-Russian annual summit to be held in Delhi in the first week of October, said people aware of the matter. They said the upcoming edition of the summit would be significant at a time of rapid geopolitical changes. Significant deals in defence, nuclear energy and energy are expected to be concluded at this meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin . A key item on the agenda will be expanding investment portfolios as Putin is expected to interact with captains of Indian industry during his trip, said one of the persons, who spoke on condition of anonymity.This will be the third standalone meeting between Modi and Putin this year. The PM had travelled to Sochi for an informal summit with Putin and that was followed by their meeting in South Africa on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit. The two have been in regular touch over phone.A major talking point ahead of the upcoming summit is the S-400 missile defence system which India has committed to purchasing from Russia. At the recently concluded 2+2 Dialogue the US hinted at exemption to India from sanctions against Russia for purchase of the S-400 system. ET has learnt that India and the US will soon hold a meeting to discuss the waiver.The Eastern Economic Forum is a tool for Russia’s pivot to the Indo-Pacific region and Russia has utilised the forum to seek greater investments from India, Japan and South Korea in its geostrategic and resource-rich far eastern region with an attempt to balance China. According to analysts, Putin created the forum in order to encourage major economies to establish a stake in Russia’s far eastern region in order to rapidly integrate it into the larger Indo-Pacific region.Meanwhile, Festival of India opened at the Kremlin State Palace in Moscow on September 6 at a grand scale that has been described as unprecedented in the past three decades.