Russian President Vladimir Putin will pay a state visit to India on December 4-5 at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. During the visit, Putin will attend the 23rd annual India-Russia summit and hold talks with Prime Minister Modi.
The President of India will also receive Putin and host a banquet in his honor.
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The visit will provide an opportunity for the leaders of India and Russia to review progress in bilateral relations, outline a vision for strengthening the “special and privileged strategic partnership” and exchange views on regional and global issues of common concern, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement on the upcoming visit.
The two-day visit will mark President Putin’s first visit to India since 2021. The two leaders last met in person on September 1 this year in Tianjin, China, on the sidelines of the SCO summit.
“They (the Russians) have been our friends through thick and thin and we are not going to cut off our defense cooperation with them anytime soon, but I want to emphasize that India adheres to the policy of strategic autonomy,” Defense Minister Rajesh Kumar Singh said in New Delhi on Friday, as quoted by the Reuters news agency.
“Deepening strategic partnership”
Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov told ANI that President Putin’s visit to India marked a “return to the tradition of annual high-level summits” and termed it a significant step towards deepening the strategic partnership between the two countries.
“Together with our Indian colleagues, we have thoroughly prepared the program of the visit. We expect that all the talks and negotiations to be held will be fruitful and will give a new impetus to the strategic cooperation of our two countries in all fields,” Manturov, who is also co-chairman of the India-Russia Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation, told the agency.
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The An India-Russia forum will be held in New Delhi, bringing together senior government officials and businessmen from both countries. Manturov said the forum is expected to explore ways to expand and diversify bilateral trade, including boosting India’s exports of equipment, raw materials and food products to Russia.
The Kremlin said earlier that the two sides are expected to adopt a joint statement and sign “a wide range of inter-ministerial and trade agreements” after the talks between the leaders. According to reports, the two sides are also likely to focus on deepening cooperation in the areas of civil nuclear energy.
S-400 long-range anti-aircraft missiles
Kremlin spokesman Dimitry Peskov said the sale of additional S-400 long-range anti-aircraft missiles could be on the agenda during the visit.
“High on the agenda and it could be discussed. Our military industry is working quite well. Russian weapons make up 36% of the Indian armed forces and hopefully that will continue,” Peskov said, according to the ANI news agency.
Russia also hopes to discuss the possibility of India acquiring the fifth-generation Su-57 fighter jet.
“The SU-57 is the best aircraft in the world. The SU-57 will be on the agenda,” Peskov said
Earlier, during the Dubai 2025 air show, a senior official of Russia’s state arms exporter Rosoboronexport said it was offering India both license production of air weapons for future-generation aircraft and integration of Indian weapons.
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Since 2000, India and Russia have shared a “special and privileged strategic partnership”. Defense, energy and space were the key pillars of these ties. Trade between the two nations has grown from around US$10-12 billion before 2022 to around US$50-60 billion, mainly due to discounted Russian oil, after 2022.
