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Modi-Putin's carpool diplomacy: Russian President rides with PM after landing in India in a Tianjin redux | Watch
President Putin is on a two-day state visit for the 23rd India-Russia Annual Summit scheduled in Delhi on December 5
Russian President Vladimir Putin travelled with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the same car after latter received him at the Palam airport in Delhi on Thursday evening. This was a redux — a return of favour — after PM Modi rode with Putin in the Russian leader's car in Tianjin, China, three months ago.
President Putin is on a two-day state visit for the 23rd India-Russia Annual Summit scheduled in Delhi on December 5.
Modi and Putin had travelled in the same vehicle, assigned for Putin in that case, to the venue of their bilateral meeting after the proceedings at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit venue at Tianjin in September 2025.
On Thursday, Modi escorted Putin and they both were driven away in a Toyota Fortuner SUV. Modi was to later host a dinner for the Russian leader.
Putin was asked in an interview about their carpool of September 1 in his Aurus Senat limousine. "The car ride with PM Modi was my idea. It was a symbol of our friendship," Putin replied, in the India Today interview before he left Moscow for Delhi.
"We talked throughout the drive; there’s always something to discuss. We even sat inside the car for quite some time afterward," he added.
PM Modi posted a photo of it on X, writing with it: “After the proceedings at the SCO Summit venue, President Putin and I travelled together to the venue of our bilateral meeting. Conversations with him are always insightful."
Their overt show of friendship came also at a time when there was a chill in India's trade relations with the US after Donald Trump “penalised” Delhi with high tariffs its purchase of Russian crude oil despite the Ukraine war. India has consistently defended its stance by stressing its national interest.
Modi and Putin's bonhomie, though, goes back almost three decades. As CM of Gujarat, Modi had visited Russia with then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2001.
