Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin at Hyderabad House in New Delhi on Friday, where the 23rd Russia-India annual summit was held.

The aim of the meeting was to strengthen cooperation in defense, trade, energy and economic sectors. This was Putin's first visit to India since the Russia-Ukraine war broke out in 2022. Putin, who visited Rajghat on Friday morning and laid a wreath at the statue of Mahatma Gandhi, was given a guard of honor by Indian soldiers at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. President Draupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Modi, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena and other senior officials were present at the event. Putin was accompanied by Defense Minister Andrei Belousov and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov from Russia. India and Russia have agreed to cooperate in areas including immigration, health, health education, food security and the sea. Modi said, ‘Taking economic cooperation to new heights is our shared priority. To make this a reality, we have today agreed on an economic partnership program until 2030. This will diversify, balance and sustain our trade and investment.’ He said that increasing connectivity between the two countries is a shared priority. Similarly, he said that there will be cooperation in renewable energy, high-level technology, industry and other areas.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he has been in constant communication with Modi. ‘We keep talking on the telephone on many important issues. Russia-India relations are very strong. Our mutual relations are multifaceted.’ He said, ‘Our trade is conducted in rubles and rupees. We will support the Make in India program. ’

Putin also said that a ‘flagship project’ would be launched in cooperation between Russia and India to build the largest nuclear power plant. 

Relations since independence India has had cordial relations with Russia since its independence.  After gaining independence in 1947 after fighting against British colonialism, India’s relations with the Western world, especially Britain, did not remain good in the 1950s.  It extended its hand of cooperation to another world power, the Soviet Union.  The Soviet Union also openly supported India’s infrastructure and industrial development in the early days.  Large public enterprises were established in the steel, mining, energy and manufacturing sectors.  India’s five-year plan-based economic model was also inspired by the Soviet Union. 

After losing the war with China in 1962, India emphasized the modernization of its army. At that time, the US and Western countries were reluctant to provide modern fighter aircraft and defense equipment.

The Soviet Union gave India the supersonic fighter aircraft 'MiG-21', which played a major role in the offensive capabilities of the Indian Air Force for many decades. Geopolitical tensions with Pakistan also brought the Soviets and India closer.

On 9 August 1971, India and the Soviet Union signed the Indo-Soviet Pact (Peace, Development and Cooperation). During this period, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) was fighting for independence. After India supported the pro-independence Mukti Bahini in this struggle, Pakistan attacked India.

When the formal war between India and Pakistan began in December, Pakistan was indirectly supported by the US and Britain. The Soviet Union also indirectly provided political and military support to India.

During the war, the Soviet Union deployed fighter jets, cruisers, and nuclear-armed submarines as it competed for power in the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal. Bangladesh became independent after Pakistan surrendered on December 16.

India fully supported the Soviet Union throughout the Cold War. During this period, the Soviet Union also played a major role in India's industrial development. It also supported India on the Kashmir issue on the global stage.

The collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s and India's emergence as a major economy in the world have redefined the relationship between the two countries. However, the trade and security relationship between the two countries remains the same. India is still Russia's largest buyer of defense equipment.

Russia has leased nuclear submarines to India. The two countries jointly produced the ‘Brahmos’ missile—the first example of joint production in the defense sector. India bought the state-of-the-art ‘Sukhoi-30 MKI’ fighter jet from Russia in the 1990s.

In 2014, after the BJP government led by Narendra Modi came to power, there was a change in defense policy. In line with the decision to diversify defense supplies, India started buying weapons from Russia as well as the US, France, and Israel. During the Soviet era, India used to import 80 percent of its military equipment from Russia, which has now come down to about 36 percent.

In 2022, after the Russia-Ukraine war broke out, Russia offered to sell oil to India at a huge discount. India bought a large amount of Russian oil keeping its national interests in mind, Western countries opposed this and threatened to impose taxes on India. After Donald Trump was elected president in the US last year, the tariffs on India have been increased to 50 percent. Despite all these circumstances, Russia-India relations remain cordial and India continues to buy oil from Russia. Similarly, Russia has been siding with India in global forums on issues such as Kashmir. With India emerging as the world's fourth largest economy, Russia is also increasing cooperation with India in the economic sector. India-Russia bilateral trade is expected to reach $68.7 billion in 2024-25. Russia's exports are more than $63 billion, while India's exports are less than $5 billion. Representatives of both countries have recently held talks to reduce this imbalance. In a meeting held on Friday, the top leadership of both countries set a goal of bringing the figure to $100 billion by 2030. For that, Russia has It has shown interest in purchasing rice, marine products and passenger ships from India.