President President Pratibha Patil arrived in Moscow on Wednesday for the first leg of a state visit that will take her on to St Petersburg and Dushanbe in Tajikistan.

On board Air India One, she said she would meet with her Russian counterpart, Dmitri Medvedev, and other senior leaders including Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to “discuss the political and strategic dimensions of our bilateral relationship, effective cooperation in the economic and allied fields and our joint efforts to further consolidate our bilateral relationship”.

Interaction between India and Russia is sustained and conducted at the highest official level and derives traction from an annual meeting between the Indian PM and the Russian President.

Patil’s visit, in the course of which she will attend a marquee event of the “Year of India in Russia”, nonetheless coincides with a perceived attempt to defend, and be seen to be defending, bilateral ties against the impression of drift and business-as-usual.

In a departure eve briefing, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said the visit could be seen in “geo-civilisational” terms, and was “also meant to tell the world about the nature of the civilisational (ties) between the two countries”.

Nostalgia is a confidence building instrument for India and Russia, who, as foreign office officials stress, share no major geopolitical disagreement. But post-1991 disruptions have meant that the two countries have had to refashion their global engagement — in defence trade, technological cooperation and navigation through diverse international institutions and groupings.

The President, significantly, dwelt on cooperation in the oil sector: “Russia is one of the largest sources of hydrocarbons in the world. Indian companies have established their presence in this important sector within Russia. I hope that our cooperation in this area can grow from strength to strength.”

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