PM-Putin bonhomie sets tone for crucial defence, trade talks

INdia rolling come out the red river carpet for chairwoman Vladimir vladimir putin on Thursday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally receiving the Russian leader at the airport on his arrival in Delhi for a visit that will be capped by an annual summit aimed at strengthening economic, defence and technology ties amid intense geopolitical churn.This is Putin’s first visit to India in four years – he last visited in December 2021 for the annual summit – and also the first since the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022. The India-Russia summit will be closely watched in the US and Europe, which have pushed India in recent weeks to reduce Russian energy purchases and to nudge Putin to end the conflict.Modi greeted Putin as he emerged from his official aircraft and stepped on to the red carpet on a winter night – reflecting the importance attached by New Delhi to the visit – and the two leaders hugged and shook hands before briefly watching a cultural performance on the tarmac. They then got into a white SUV and joined a motorcade that sped to the PM’s official residence, where Modi hosted a private dinner that allowed the two leaders to hold wide-ranging discussions away from the public glare.“Welcomed my friend, President Putin to 7, Lok Kalyan Marg,” Modi said in a social media post, referring to his official residence, along with images of the two leaders smiling and shaking hands. There was no official word on the deliberations at the private dinner from both sides.Modi later tweeted a photo of him presenting a copy of the Bhagavad Gita in Russian to Putin.In an interview with India Today news channel ahead of his trip, Putin said Russia was keen to ramp up cooperation with India in civil nuclear energy, defence and trade, and noted the world will be watching his visit because of the rapid strides made by New Delhi in areas ranging from economic development to health care.The more formal elements of Putin’s visit – a ceremonial welcome and a tri-services guard of honour at the Rashtrapati Bhavan – will follow on Friday, ahead of his talks with Modi at Hyderabad House. The two sides are expected to sign several agreements to bolster cooperation in areas ranging from trade to energy and academia, and the two leaders will also address a business forum being held to drum up investments and boost Indian exports to the Russian market. During the day, Putin will also go to Raj Ghat to pay homage at the memorial to Mahatma Gandhi, and will attend a state banquet to be hosted in his honour by President Droupadi Murmu, before departing India at around 9 pm on Friday.Modi and Putin last met nearly three months ago on the margins of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in the Chinese city of Tianjin, where the prime minister rode with Putin in the Russian leader’s vehicle.The Russian leader’s visit is an opportunity for India to reassert its strategic autonomy by reinvigorating the defence and trade partnerships with Russia at a time when it has faced pressure from the US to reduce purchases of Russian oil and military hardware. The two leaders have also spoken on phone five times this year, and the last bilateral summit was hosted by Putin in Moscow in July 2024.Discussions at the private dinner on Thursday, when Modi and Putin were joined by a small group of close aides, will set the tone for the India-Russia Summit meeting on Friday, people familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity. “They will review the entire gamut of the bilateral relationship and look at global and regional issues. The informal setting allows for a more frank conversation,” one of the people said.Ahead of Putin’s arrival, presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the agenda for the summit will include measures to insulate bilateral trade from US pressure and sanctions, cooperation in small modular reactors in the field of nuclear energy, and deepening of the extensive defence cooperation, with Russian hardware accounting for 36% of the inventory of India’s armed forces.Russia’s state-run Rosatom agency announced on Thursday that it had delivered the first consignment of nuclear fuel for initial loading of the third VVER-1000 reactor at the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu, and fisheries and animal husbandry minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh met his Russian counterpart Oxana Lut to discussed expanding trade in fisheries, animal and dairy products, and resolving market access issues.Ahead of Putin’s arrival, defence minister Rajnath Singh and his Russian counterpart Andrei Belousov co-chaired a meeting of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military and Military Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-M&MTC). Singh emphasised India’s determination to expand its indigenous defence industry for local production and exports, while Belousov expressed the readiness of Russia’s defence industry to support India in becoming self-reliant in defence production.Indian officials said a mobility agreement to facilitate Indian skilled and semi-skilled workers to join Russia’s labour market and steps to diversify the trade basket will also be on the agenda. India has pushed for better access to Russia’s market as Indian exports currently account for less than $5 billion out of the two-way trade volume of $68 billion.Putin’s visit is taking place against the backdrop of a sharp downturn in India-US ties over trade-related matters, including a 25% punitive tariff slapped on Indian goods by President Donald Trump over Russian energy purchases, taking the total levies to 50% – among the highest in the world.The visit is also being closely followed by members of the European Union (EU), which is set to hold its own summit with India in January, and which is expected to lead to the conclusion of a free trade agreement (FTA) and measures to deepen the defence and security partnership between India and the EU. Ahead of Putin’s arrival, the envoys of France, Germany and the UK authored an op-ed that sharply criticised the Russian leader for blocking efforts to end the war in Ukraine. German ambassador Philipp Ackermann told HT that Putin’s visit is a good opportunity for India to remind him to stop the war in Ukraine and to discuss a strategy to end the fighting.The private dinner and the summit will be opportunities for Putin to brief Modi on the situation in Ukraine and the US efforts to end the conflict. The people said the Indian side is expected to reiterate its consistent messaging that dialogue and diplomacy is the only way forward and a solution cannot be found on the battlefield.