Russia's First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov met with Indian leaders to discuss strengthening bilateral ties in key sectors amidst the escalating conflict in West Asia.
India and Russia are expected to sign a bilateral mobility agreement during President Vladimir Putin's visit to New Delhi, establishing a framework for legal migration, worker protection, and expansion of skilled Indian manpower in Russia.
Amidst global energy market volatility driven by the West Asia crisis, Russia has proposed increasing its crude oil and natural gas supplies to India, strengthening bilateral energy ties and aiming for USD 100 billion in annual trade by 2030.
Putin's State visit will centre on fixing the huge India-Russia trade imbalance, with both sides pushing to lower duties, ease non-tariff barriers, and seal a landmark mobility pact to send more Indian workers to Russia.
Russia, being bogged down by the Ukraine war and prioritising the requirements of its own armed forces, along with India's consistent diversification policy, will remain a major challenge to the bilateral partnership, note Harsh V Pant and Aleksei Zakharov.
In the context of India's energy ties with Russia, Putin said certain "actors" dislike New Delhi's growing role in international markets in view of its close relations with Moscow and these elements are aiming to constrain India's influence for political reasons by imposing "artificial obstacles".
The enduring relationship between the two countries have survived the disintegration of the erstwhile USSR in 1991, the end of the Cold War and the regime change in both countries, points out Rup Narayan Das.
India and Russia are set to expand their defence cooperation, with India expressing interest in procuring additional S-400 missile systems. Discussions took place ahead of the India-Russia annual summit.
Russia has a "special mechanism" to confront any challenge arising out of the US slapping punitive measures against India for its procurement of Russian crude oil, Russian charge d'affaires Roman Babushkin said on Wednesday.
India and Russia have solidified a five-year plan to enhance their economic and trade partnership, while also addressing the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the threat of terrorism.
On President Putin's two-day trip to India, Jaishankar said for a "big" and "rising" country like India, it is important to maintain good cooperation with as many important players as possible in the world in line with freedom of choice.
China has reacted positively to Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to India, emphasizing the importance of trilateral ties between China, Russia, and India for regional and global peace and stability.
Jaishankar said that India and Russia have a long-standing relationship that has certainly served New Delhi's interests well.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly supported efforts to end the war in Ukraine and conveyed to Russian President Vladimir Putin that India will stand shoulder-to-shoulder in all peace efforts to find an amicable solution to the conflict.
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in New Delhi for a two-day visit focused on strengthening ties with India, including defense cooperation and trade, amidst a changing geopolitical landscape.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will host Russian President Vladimir Putin for a private dinner and summit, focusing on defence, trade, and geopolitical issues, including the Ukraine conflict and the impact of US sanctions.
On the table are additional batches of S-400 surface-to-air missile systems from Russia, which India used with immense success during Operation Sindoor. India could buy at least two squadrons of Su-57 fighter jets plus joint production of S-500 air defence systems.
'Don't look at Russia only as a place to earn quickly and then leave.' 'Try to build experience in serious companies, skills and certifications that will serve you anywhere in the world.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi conveyed to Russian President Vladimir Putin that India is ready to make all possible contributions towards a peaceful resolution of the Ukraine conflict.
However, these are understood to be exploratory talks, with an agreement unlikely to be formalised during the current visit.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will make a two-day visit to India from December 4 to hold annual summit talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi that is expected to produce a plethora of significant outcomes, including in the defence sphere, to further solidify the bilateral strategic ties.
The relations between New Delhi and Washington are on a downturn after Trump doubled tariffs on Indian goods to a whopping 50 per cent, including a 25 per cent additional duties for India's purchase of Russian crude oil.
United States President Donald Trump once again mounted a sharp attack on India and Russia for their close ties and said that the two countries can take their 'dead economies down together'.
United States President Donald Trump on Tuesday said India has not been a good trading partner and announced that he will raise the tariffs on New Delhi 'very substantially' over the next 24 hours because it is buying Russian oil.
The Indian government has expressed its disagreement with the IMF staff's 'baseline' assumption that the 50 per cent US tariffs on its goods exports 'would remain in place indefinitely', based on which the staff pegged the country's GDP growth at 6.6 per cent this year, and pared its 2026-27 projection by 20 basis points to 6.2 per cent.
India and Russia always stood "shoulder-to-shoulder" even in the most difficult situations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, against the backdrop of possibly the worst phase in New Delhi's ties with the US in over two decades.
Sanctioning Russian oil would have led to a sharp surge in oil prices to above $80 per barrel levels, which would impact pump prices in the US ahead of midterm elections next year.
'There are times when India should stand up without hesitation and voice its indignation over the US' pressure tactic. This is one such moment,' asserts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
New Delhi, while opting not to retaliate yet to the American tariffs, has in recent weeks sought to reinforce its friendship with Moscow, and recalibrate its ties with Beijing rather than surrender to Washington's diktats.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has called for India and Russia to adopt a creative and innovative approach to address complex geopolitical challenges, emphasizing diversification and expansion of cooperation.
Navarro's remarks came after the public display of bonhomie by the three leaders on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin on Monday.
The relations between New Delhi and Washington are on a downturn after Trump doubled tariffs on Indian goods to a whopping 50 per cent, including 25 per cent additional duties for India's purchase of Russian crude oil.
'Trump administration wanted a positive tone at this summit, but there was still some anxiety that there could be some awkward moments -- and there were not.'
Russian President Vladimir Putin has accepted Prime Minister Narendra Modi's invitation to visit India for the annual high-level meeting as the two leaders held a telephone conversation, the Kremlin said on Monday.
'We need to be very vigilant as we are passing through some fraught times.'
The Indian community in Russia are eagerly waiting for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Moscow and will be seeking his support to build a Hindu temple in the country, a new Indian school building and the availability of more direct flights to India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on Tuesday officially conferred the 'Order of St Andrew the Apostle' award by Russian President Vladimir Putin for his contribution to fostering bilateral ties between the two countries.
The scaling up of the India-US strategic partnership to the level of non-NATO ally with defence deals, sharing and transfer of defence technology, interoperability, joint collaboration and joint production of defence equipment has exacerbated Moscow's anxiety, notes Rup Narayan Das.
In his opening remarks at the talks, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh asserted that India is confident of overcoming the challenges with a strong political will and an inherent capability of its people.
Russia on Monday accused the US of "actively" exploiting the "contradictions" between India and China to its advantage and asserted Moscow and New Delhi accumulated mutual trust and confidence based on decades-old ties that would help the two sides to deal with the current geopolitical turbulence.
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