Putin Basks in Praise From Modi on India Visit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, underlining the close personal relationship between the leaders and their countries’ longtime friendship.VideoPutin Receives Warm Welcome in India1:17Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India praised his relationship with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia after the two leaders held bilateral talks in New Delhi on Friday.CreditCredit...Adnan Abidi/ReutersDec. 5, 2025Updated 11:39 a.m. ETPrime Minister Narendra Modi of India praised his “deep and unbreakable relationship” with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia after they held talks in India on Friday against the backdrop of strained ties between New Delhi and Washington.Mr. Modi and Mr. Putin pledged deeper cooperation in defense, trade and energy, underscoring the strategic ties between the two countries.Mr. Modi lauded Mr. Putin’s “leadership and foresight” after a number of bilateral agreements were signed and added, “Humanity has gone through many challenges, but ties between Russia and India have been like the North Star.”Mr. Putin’s visit to India, his first since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, serves to underline that Russia has not turned into a total global pariah despite extensive sanctions and an indictment by the International Criminal Court. India and Russia have been friends for decades, going back to the Soviet era.For Mr. Modi, the partnership is a way to show that India retains its policy of “strategic autonomy” and is pursuing partners based on self-interest. He had spent years cultivating closer ties with the United States but instead found his country in a geopolitical tangle over the Ukraine war. The Trump administration has doubled tariffs on India, to 50 percent, after accusing New Delhi of helping Moscow finance the war through oil trading. More recent Western sanctions have nearly halted India’s oil imports from Russia.ImageMr. Putin and Mr. Modi on a billboard in Bengaluru, India. Mr. Modi greeted Mr. Putin at the airport in New Delhi with a handshake and a hug.Credit...Idrees Mohammed/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesAfter a ceremonial welcome in New Delhi on Thursday evening, where Mr. Modi greeted Mr. Putin at the airport with a handshake and a hug, the two leaders had an informal dinner at the Indian prime minister’s official residence. On Friday, Mr. Putin laid a wreath at the Gandhi memorial before talks with Mr. Modi. The Russian president departed on Friday night after meeting with the Indian president, Droupadi Murmu.Officials from both countries have insisted that the meetings’ focus is on promoting business ties and military cooperation. India, which relies heavily on Russia for defense hardware, has a significant trade imbalance with Moscow; it imports more than $60 billion, most of it oil, but exports only around $5 billion of goods. The two sides have set a target of $100 billion in bilateral trade by 2030, which they say they hope to reach through Russia’s importing more goods from India, including agricultural products like potatoes, and through more Russian investment in India.In his remarks on Friday, Mr. Putin highlighted all the energy supplies that Russia exported to India: oil, natural gas, coal and nuclear. “We are ready to continue uninterrupted shipments of fuel for the fast-growing Indian economy,” he said.The Russian state company Rosatom is also building what Mr. Putin said would be India’s largest civilian nuclear power plant, in Tamil Nadu, in the south. He also announced plans for a Russian-Indian pharmaceutical plant in the western Kaluga region of Russia. India has previously said it will open consulates in the Russian cities of Kazan and Yekaterinburg.News media from both countries have emphasized the close relationship between the leaders, which mirrors the relative warmth that Indians have toward Russia. Almost half of Indians reported favorable views of Russia, according to a Pew Research Center study this year.A cartoon video published on Friday by India Today, a privately owned outlet, showed the dynamic. In the clip, which emulates a song sequence from “Sholay,” a legendary Bollywood movie, Mr. Modi rides a motorcycle and serenades Mr. Putin, who sits in the sidecar playing a harmonica. They careen through fields, pass an air defense system that New Delhi buys from Moscow and eventually pull up to a filling station offering gas from Russia and from the United States. Mr. Modi uses the Russian pump, leaving President Trump shaking his fist.In the video, Mr. Modi sings a version of the original lyrics: “We won’t abandon this friendship. Even if there are challenges, we won’t leave your side.”Alexander Gabuev, director of the Berlin-based Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, said that the Russian relationship with India was important to Mr. Putin to try to mitigate the “colossal dependence” Moscow has on Beijing after the collapse of relations with the West.Mr. Gabuev said that since 2022, “Russia was desperately trying to diversify within this pivot to Asia, and then India has been their largest hedge.” But, he noted, India cannot provide everything that China does, including crucial goods used by Russia’s defense industry.Aleksei Zakharov, an analyst with the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi, said, “Previously, Russia was more obsessed with Western markets, and in many areas, Russia was negligent of the opportunities existing here in India.”“But now it seems that Russian businesses have no choice but to work here and adapt to new realities,” he added.For Mr. Modi, retaining a closeness with Moscow is important also to balance the growing relationship between Russia and China, a regional rival of India. During a brief, four-day conflict between India and Pakistan in May, Russian-made weapons in India’s arsenal fought weapons that China had sold to Pakistan.Anupreeta Das covers India and South Asia for The Times. She is based in New Delhi.Valerie Hopkins covers the war in Ukraine and how the conflict is changing Russia, Ukraine, Europe and the United States. She is based in Moscow.SKIP