Russian President Vladimir Putin’s summit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi is formally framed around trade, defence and peace in Ukraine.
In practice, it is the latest staging point in a difficult recalibration of India’s energy relationship with Moscow under the shadow of United States sanctions and tariffs linked to Russian oil.
Putin’s first visit to India in four years comes after a period in which New Delhi has become the world’s most important buyer of Russian seaborne crude. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and Europe’s subsequent efforts to cut reliance on Russian energy, Moscow diverted discounted crude to Asian markets. India’s imports of Russian oil rose sharply, with Russia moving from a marginal supplier before the war to account for an estimated 35–40% of India’s crude purchases in 2023–24.
Those flows underpinned a surge in bilateral trade to roughly $69 billion in 2024–25, heavily skewed towards Russia through Indian energy purchases. Both sides now say they want to expand the “basket” of trade and increase the total to $100 billion by 2030, in part by raising Russian imports of Indian manufactured goods, foodstuffs and pharmaceuticals.
The energy leg of this relationship is under pressure. The visit takes place as New Delhi negotiates with Washington over a trade package to reduce the punitive tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump on Indian exports in response to India’s Russian oil purchases. Higher US tariffs and secondary sanctions on key Russian producers and shipping intermediaries have already forced some Indian refiners to trim or re-route purchases. According to recent industry data, India’s imports of Russian crude have eased in recent months, contributing to a fall in bilateral trade between April and August 2025.
For New Delhi, the calculation is straightforward but difficult. Cheap Russian crude has helped contain domestic fuel prices and support India’s rapid post-pandemic recovery. At the same time, India seeks deeper economic and technological ties with the US, including supply-chain partnerships and defence co-production, and wants to avoid becoming a target for wider US financial sanctions. The Trump administration’s decision to link tariffs directly to Russian oil purchases has narrowed India’s room for manoeuvre.
In New Delhi, Modi sought to anchor the summit in the language of peace in Ukraine. “India is not neutral — India has a position, and that position is for peace,” he told Putin, saying India supported all credible initiatives aimed at ending the conflict. Putin, for his part, thanked Modi for his “attention and efforts” on Ukraine and referred to ongoing contacts with other partners, including the US, on possible arrangements for a settlement.
Yet the strategic content of the visit lies largely in energy and defence. Putin has used an interview with broadcaster India Today and public comments around the summit to challenge Washington’s stance, pointing out that the US continues to buy Russian nuclear fuel. “If the US has the right to buy our fuel, why shouldn’t India have the same privilege?” he asked, arguing that American pressure on New Delhi amounts to a double standard.
That argument resonates in India, where officials have repeatedly noted that Western trade with Russia has not ceased. The EU and US have significantly reduced their dependence on Russian fossil fuels since 2022 but still import Russian LNG, certain crude volumes and enriched uranium under exemptions and transitional arrangements. New Delhi has maintained that its own purchases are consistent with its energy security needs and with market-based trading in a fragmented global oil environment.
Alongside oil, the summit addresses wider economic mechanisms needed to sustain the relationship under sanctions. Russian banks, including Gazprombank and Alfa-Bank, have applied for permission to operate in India, to ease payments and financing for trade that has increasingly shifted to non-dollar currencies. Indian companies are expected to sign an agreement with fertiliser producer Uralchem to build a urea plant in Russia, a move that would link Russian gas feedstock to Indian agricultural demand.
Defence cooperation remains a second structural pillar. Russia has long been India’s principal arms supplier, and Defence Minister Andrei Belousov, travelling with Putin, has told Indian counterparts that Moscow is ready to support New Delhi’s drive for greater self-reliance in defence production. Discussions in New Delhi are expected to cover joint projects, maintenance of existing Russian-origin systems, and potential collaboration in high-technology sectors such as aviation, space and artificial intelligence.
The broader context is what one analyst this week described as India’s “conundrum”: steps to deepen ties with Moscow risk friction with Washington, while visible alignment with US sanctions could weaken a decades-old partnership with Russia. India’s refusal to condemn Russia at the United Nations, its continued oil purchases and its outreach to Russian industry are viewed critically in Western capitals, despite India’s role in the Quad and its growing security cooperation with the US and its allies in the Indo-Pacific.
First published on euglobal.news
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