NEW DELHI: In a development that will be closely followed across Western capitals, Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to India next week – on December 4-5 – for the 23rd India-Russia Annual Summit, the government announced Friday. Putin is expected to arrive on December 4 in the evening and head into the summit with PM Narendra Modi the next morning. Several agreements and MoUs spanning across a range of areas are expected to be signed during the visit that will help India reassert its strategic autonomy by underscoring the defence and trade partnerships with Moscow. However, the summit will also test India’s ability to navigate a delicate situation and balance competing interests as it works to ensure that the outcomes don’t act as a deal-breaker in its ties with the US and the EU.
Announcing the visit, the Indian government said in a statement that it will provide an opportunity for the leadership of India and Russia to review progress in bilateral relations, set the vision for strengthening the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership and exchange views on regional and global issues of mutual interest. This will be Putin’s first visit to India since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Unlike the last time Putin travelled to India – in December 2021 – for the annual summit, this will be a State Visit during which President Droupadi Murmu will also host a banquet in his honour. Putin’s last visit, in the middle of a Covid wave, lasted only for a few hours. China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia are among the countries Putin has visited since the war started. While the visit allows both sides to reinforce the importance they attach to the relationship, which is defined by longstanding trust, India will be mindful of how the outcomes, especially in defence and energy, are seen in Washington and European capitals. India is looking to conclude negotiations in the next few weeks for a bilateral trade agreement with the US, which has imposed an additional 25 percent tariff on India for its oil purchase from Russia, and of immediate priority also is the EU-India summit that New Delhi will host in January. The EU summit is expected to yield several significant takeaways including an FTA and an ambitious defence and security partnership. It’s important for India to not allow the summit with Russia to indicate – not at this moment anyway – that its ties with Moscow far outweigh its relations with other important partners with whom it’s looking to boost, among other things, trade and defence industrial cooperation. In the meeting, India is likely to seek ways to address the increasing trade deficit with Russia and discuss a proposal to acquire 5 more squadrons of S-400 air defence systems. Russia said in its own announcement that the visit carries significant importance, offering an opportunity to review “the entire spectrum of the #RussiaIndia special and privileged strategic partnership – from politics, trade and the economy to science, technology, and cultural and humanitarian cooperation”.
