Vladimir Putin said Russia was working with the US and other partners towards a peaceful settlement of his war in Ukraine as he reached India on Thursday for a high-level talks with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi.
The Russian president is in India for a two-day visit for an annual Russia-India summit where talks have been dominated by Russia’s war on Ukraine as the Indian prime minister called for peace. India and Russia are looking to add a major boost to their defence and trade ties with this visit despite pressure from the US on the Asian country to rework its decades-old tested alliance with Moscow.
“India is not neutral – India has a position, and that position is for peace,” Mr Modi told the Russian president as they opened their talks in New Delhi on Friday.
“We support every effort for peace, and we stand shoulder to shoulder with every initiative taken for peace,” he said. In response, Mr Putin thanked Mr Modi for his attention and efforts aimed at resolving the war.
“We had the opportunity – and you gave me that opportunity – to speak in detail about what is happening on the Ukrainian track and about the steps we are taking jointly with some other partners, including the United States, toward a possible peaceful settlement of this crisis,” Mr Putin said.
The Russian president highlighted the joint areas of cooperation between Moscow and New Delhi.
India has been under scrutiny from European and US officials for its purchase of Russian oil since the war in Ukraine began in February 2022.
India has continued to buy discounted Russian oil, despite warnings from Washington that this is partly keeping Moscow’s revenues afloat to fund the Ukraine war. US president Donald Trump has imposed additional 25 per cent tariffs on Indian imports, raising the total duties to 50 per cent in retaliation.
“New areas are emerging – high technologies, joint work in aviation, space, and artificial intelligence. We have a very trusting relationship in the field of military-technical cooperation, and we intend to move forward in all these areas,” he said.
The 23rd Russia-India Summit comes at a pivotal moment as the United States pushes for a Ukraine peace deal while seeking global cooperation. The visit by Mr Putin is also a test for New Delhi’s efforts to balance relations with Moscow and Washington as the nearly four-year war in Ukraine grinds on.
India is not a signatory of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, allowing itself to freely host the Russian war-time president wanted on arrest warrant for war crimes in Ukraine.
The Russian leader, mostly isolated on the world stage, has been making selective diplomatic outreaches to the nations that are either not required to arrest him on the warrant or will abstain from following the ICC signatory.
Mr Putin last visited India in 2021. Mr Modi was in Moscow last year, and the two leaders briefly met in September in China during a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit.
On Thursday evening, Mr Putin was received by the Indian prime minister in a rare greeting at an airport in New Delhi’s Palam, who gave the visiting leader a bear hug and a tight handshake with the gusto of an old friend.
The agenda for the talks include discussions on collaboration on defence, energy and labour mobility.
The Indian leader is also expected to push for faster delivery of two further Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile systems. It has already received three under a 2018 deal worth about $5bn. The delay has been tied to supply chain disruptions linked to the war in Ukraine.
The two sides signed a pact in February to improve military cooperation, exercises, port calls, disaster relief assistance and logistics support. Moscow’s State Duma ratified the same ahead of Mr Putin’s India visit.
Talks are also expected on upgrading India’s Russian-made Su-30MKI fighter jets and accelerating deliveries of critical military hardware. Trade is also expected to be a major point in talks.
The visit has already sparked diplomatic crisis, landing New Delhi in an awkward position, as three European envoys – the British high commissioner Lindy Cameron, French ambassador to India Thierry Mathou and German ambassador to India Philipp Ackermann – spoke out against Russia’s war on Ukraine in a rare joint op-ed.
Accusing the Russian leader of escalating the war in Ukraine even while peace talks were underway, the European envoys claimed Moscow had launched 22 of the “largest air attacks of the entire war” since the talks began. “These are not the actions of someone that’s serious about peace. Neither are these indiscriminate attacks mere accidents,” they said, “they are a systematic choice by Russia to wage its war of aggression with absolute ruthlessness. And it must end.”
The visit from Putin could strain relations with the EU and the US and might jeopardise negotiations for major trade agreements with both that are seen as critical for India’s exports.
In October, the Donald Trump administration sanctioned two of Moscow’s biggest oil producers to force countries like India to cut down on imports. Indian officials have said New Delhi has always abided by international sanctions and would do so in the case of Russia oil purchases as well.
Experts have said the grand hosting of Mr Putin in Delhi conveys the message that India is standing by its longstanding strategic partner and defence ally.
Mr Putin’s India visit, “given the timing and geopolitical context, underscores New Delhi’s strategic tightrope walk between the West and the rest, chiefly Russia,” said Praveen Donthi, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group.
This tilt from India toward Russia dates back to the Cold War and persists despite its official nonaligned position. “The significant change now is its desire to be a strategic partner with the US at the same time, which will be a diplomatic challenge,” he added.