India rolled out the red carpet for Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi making a rare personal appearance at New Delhi airport – a diplomatic gesture India reserves for only its closest partners.
A troupe of women in traditional dress performing classical Indian dance added a symbolic flourish to Putin’s first visit to India in four years, and his first since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Despite an active arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC), Putin can travel to India, which – like several major countries – is not a signatory to the Rome Statute that underpins the ICC. After an exchange of firm handshakes and warm embraces, Modi and Putin shared a car ride and a private dinner.
Putin’s two-day state visit for the 23rd India-Russia Summit is widely seen as a strategic show of resilience amid Moscow’s prolonged international isolation over the war in Ukraine. For New Delhi, the visit highlights its willingness to push back against growing American geopolitical pressure, while securing key economic advantages that help offset Washington’s leverage.
Yet India’s decision to host Putin also highlights a delicate balancing act, as it continues to struggle to finalize a long-sought free-trade agreement with the United States.
The unusually large contingent of Russian business leaders accompanying Putin signals that trade and economic cooperation will dominate Friday’s talks. Here’s what to expect from the upcoming negotiations.
Trade & Energy
The summit places a strong emphasis on boosting two-way trade and addressing the longstanding imbalance in bilateral commerce.
Despite heightened economic pressure from the Trump administration, Moscow remains India’s largest supplier of crude oil.
Between 2023 and 2025, India exported roughly $5 billion worth of goods to Russia, while imports from Russia reached around $64 billion over the same period – leaving India with a trade deficit of approximately $59 billion.
The gap is unsurprising given Russia’s entrenched dominance in India’s energy market.
Despite heightened economic pressure from the Trump administration, Moscow remains India’s largest supplier of crude oil. New Delhi has leveraged Russia’s need to sell discounted oil – a key revenue source for its war effort – to position itself as what analysts have dubbed a “laundromat” nation.
India has been importing large volumes of discounted Russian crude, refining it, and exporting the processed fuel to markets in Europe and the United States, where it no longer counts as a Russia-origin product and therefore escapes Western sanctions.
At this week’s India-Russia Summit, New Delhi is expected to push for greater access for Indian goods – including pharmaceuticals, textiles, and fertilizers – in the Russian market. Expanding these exports would not only help India narrow its steep trade deficit with Moscow, but also soften the economic blow of the Trump administration’s recently imposed 50% tariff on Indian goods.
Defense, military cooperation
With Russia long established as India’s key defense partner, and India increasingly asserting its “strategic autonomy,” particularly in relation to the United States, defense and military cooperation is expected to be a central focus of the upcoming India-Russia summit.
Russia is reportedly prepared to offer the Su-57 stealth fighter to India.
The talks are likely to address longstanding concerns such as the timely delivery of pending Russian-origin military equipment, spare parts, and maintenance support. Discussions are expected to center on the acquisition of additional air-defense systems, including the S-400, with India also seeking proposals for partial technology transfer and local production.
Russia is reportedly prepared to offer the Su-57 stealth fighter to India, potentially under a manufacturing and technology-transfer arrangement rather than a straightforward purchase.
The summit may also explore broader joint production and defense-industrial integration, supporting India’s “Make in India” initiative while ensuring supply-chain reliability for Russian-origin platforms.
As reported by Bloomberg, India has already committed around $2 billion to lease a nuclear-powered submarine from Russia – a follow-up to a 2019 agreement that has been delayed due to ongoing price negotiations. The finalized deal requires the vessel to be delivered by 2028. Another key aspect of the military and defense collaboration under discussion is India’s potential access to Russian rare earth elements, a sector currently dominated by China.
Labor mobility
The upcoming India‑Russia summit is expected to see the signing of a bilateral mobility agreement to facilitate the movement of skilled and semi‑skilled Indian workers to Russia.
According to reports, Russia plans to recruit up to a million Indian professionals by the end of this year to address acute labor shortages in its industrial and heavy-manufacturing sectors. Demand is particularly high in industrial hubs such as the Ural belt, including Sverdlovsk, which hosts major manufacturing plants and military-industrial facilities.
This large-scale recruitment drive forms part of Russia’s broader strategy to plug critical workforce gaps and presents a significant opportunity for Indian professionals, especially those facing visa barriers in Western countries. Beyond employment, the initiative shows a deepening of India-Russia economic and people-to-people ties.
However, questions remain over how these programs will be implemented – and whether the recruited workforce could be used to support Russia’s military operations, a concern that adds geopolitical sensitivity to the agreement.
Trade, energy, defense and labor mobility are expected to dominate Friday’s talks, with each side seeking practical gains: India wants to narrow its trade deficit and secure access to newer defense technologies, while Russia aims to secure stable revenue as its full-scale war against Ukraine grinds on.
The visit also sends a broader message: Despite international pressure over Moscow’s war in Ukraine, India and Russia’s relationship remains intact – and New Delhi appears keen to show it as it continues to balance between East and West, asserting its strategic autonomy while managing pressure from the United States and other Western partners.