Opinion Putin’s Delhi visit: Economy is the new lynchpin of Indo-Russian ties
The Russian President has said Moscow is ready to ensure “uninterrupted shipments of fuel” to India. The strengthening of India-Russia ties, however, need not come at the expense of India’s relations with the US (a trade delegation is expected next week) or with Europe (FTA talks have gained momentum).
In recent years, Indian diplomacy has given several indicators that it is well poised to do so. As Prime Minister Modi reiterated, standing next to Putin, India is not neutral in the conflict — it is on the side of peace. Defence has been the backbone of the India-Russia relationship since the times of the Soviet Union. Russia’s willingness to share technologies and localise production, along with the US arms embargo on India in 1965, helped cement this cooperation. But a durable transformation of a partnership built heavily around defence, even with a time-tested ally, requires deeper economic engagement. President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India on December 4-5, his first since the Ukraine war began and in the backdrop of Western pressure on India to stop buying Russian oil, appears to mark that shift. The new direction in ties is underlined by a strategic economic roadmap for 2030, along with pacts on labour mobility, fertilisers, nuclear energy and tourism.
India exports barely $5 billion a year to Russia, while bilateral trade reached about $69 billion by March 2025 — up from just $8 billion in 2020 — a surge driven almost entirely by India’s imports, particularly discounted crude oil. The joint statement notes that trade barriers must be removed and smoother payment mechanisms ensured to achieve the revised target of $100 billion by 2030. It also states that the joint work on the free trade agreement on goods between India and the Eurasian Economic Union is being intensified. Yet the trade basket remains heavily skewed, with a deep deficit on India’s side. Delhi must now work to correct this imbalance. The labour mobility pact opens new avenues for Indian professionals to work across a wide range of sectors in Russia. It comes at a time when Russia is grappling with an acute labour shortage and the West — particularly the US — is restricting immigration. If leveraged to its full potential, implementation of the pact could cultivate an Indian diaspora in Russia comparable in scale to that in the Gulf, giving Delhi greater strategic room to negotiate and assert its positions on issues of conflict, climate change and the international economy.
The Russian President has said Moscow is ready to ensure “uninterrupted shipments of fuel” to India. The strengthening of India-Russia ties, however, need not come at the expense of India’s relations with the US (a trade delegation is expected next week) or with Europe (FTA talks have gained momentum). With negotiations over the Ukraine war now spearheaded by the Trump administration, the US-Russia-Europe dynamic could be reshaped. India must navigate this triangle by deepening engagement with all three. In recent years, Indian diplomacy has given several indicators that it is well poised to do so. As Prime Minister Modi reiterated, standing next to Putin, India is not neutral in the conflict — it is on the side of peace.
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