- Putin’s visit aims to boost trade amid Western sanctions.
- India is balancing its relations with Russia and the United States in trade negotiations.
- Modi and Putin will discuss defense, oil and nuclear energy today.
NEW DELHI: Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Friday, aiming to boost trade with Russia’s top arms and maritime oil buyer as Western sanctions strain their decades-old ties.
Putin is on his first visit to India in four years, as New Delhi is engaged in negotiations with the United States for a trade deal to reduce punitive tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump on its products due to India’s purchases of Russian oil.
Moscow has been India’s main arms supplier for decades and has said it wants to import more Indian goods in a bid to boost trade to $100 billion by 2030, a figure so far skewed in its favor due to New Delhi’s energy imports.
Since European countries reduced their dependence on Russian energy following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine almost four years ago, India has stepped up its purchases of discounted Russian crude.
“India faces a dilemma; by taking steps to strengthen its ties with either Moscow or Washington, New Delhi risks severing its ties with the other,” Michael Kugelman, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington, wrote in Foreign Policy magazine this week.
Modi and Putin are also expected to discuss other topics, including labor and civilian nuclear energy, with the sides expected to announce new deals to demonstrate the resilience of their relationship.
Hugs and handshakes
The Indian leader received Putin with a hug and a handshake as he walked the red carpet after arriving at an airport near New Delhi on Thursday for a two-day visit. Modi later hosted the Russian president for a private dinner at his residence.
A business and government delegation accompanied Putin for his visit, including his Defense Minister, Andrei Belousov, who spoke with his Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh on Thursday.
Belousov “said that the Russian defense industry is ready to help India become self-reliant in the field of defense production,” the Indian Defense Ministry said after the negotiations.
Putin arrived in India a day after holding talks with Trump’s top envoys over a possible peace deal to end the war in Ukraine, but they failed to reach a compromise.
India has resisted condemning Russia for the war and called for peace through dialogue and diplomacy, while saying its ties with Moscow were being unfairly targeted by Western countries who continue to do business with Moscow when it is in their interests.
