British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will offer to help India cut its dependence on Russian oil and defense equipment during his two-day visit, Reuters reported.

During his first trip to India as prime minister on Thursday, Johnson will discuss strengthening security cooperation in meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Earlier this month, US President Joe Biden told Modi that buying more oil from Russia was not in India's interest.

According to the representative of the British prime minister, Johnson will not lecture Modi on this issue.

Uday Bhaskar, director of the New Delhi Policy Research Society, said the Indian government would listen carefully to Johnson's message if it was done respectfully, but in practice there was little Britain could do to replace Russia as a strategic ally.

The problem is that the UK cannot solve the problem of India's dependence on Russia. It does not have enough oil or the right type of military hardware to sell, Bhaskar said.

The UK was India's third-largest trading partner at the start of this century, but dropped to 17th last year, government figures from India show. India's largest trading partners are the US, China and the United Arab Emirates.