E-Paper
Modi receives Putin at airport as Russian president makes 1st India visit since Ukraine war
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 war in Ukraine
New Delhi: India rolled out the red carpet for President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally receiving the Russian leader at the airport on his arrival 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 invasion of 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 war in Ukraine.
Modi greeted Putin as he emerged from his official aircraft and stepped onto 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.
“Delighted to welcome my friend President Putin to India,” Modi said on social media. “India-Russia friendship is a time tested one that has greatly benefited our people.”
The more formal elements of Putin’s visit — a ceremonial welcome and a tri-services guard of honour at 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 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.
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, and the Russian leader’s visit is an opportunity for India to reassert its strategic autonomy by reinvigorating 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 the 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 will be 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 on small modular reactors in the field of nuclear energy, and deepening the extensive defence cooperation, with Russian hardware accounting for 36% of the inventory of India’s armed forces.
Indian officials said a mobility agreement to facilitate Indian skilled and semi-skilled workers joining 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 is expected to conclude 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 are the only way forward and that a solution cannot be found on the battlefield.
