As India rolls out the red carpet for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who landed in New Delhi on Thursday evening, the writing on the wall is clear: Russia is not a pariah, and India hasn’t turned its back on its decade-old ally despite the US sanctions.
While Putin will hold summit talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the focus of which will be to boost defence and oil trade, the visit is high on optics and will be closely watched by the West. For Russia, it's a message to the world that its global partnerships are still intact. However, for India, it is not only a tightrope walk between its relations with the US and Russia, but also an attempt to assert India’s strategic autonomy after Trump imposed 50% tariffs on the nation’s goods to punish New Delhi for its close ties with Russia.
According to Harsh Pant, professor of international relations at King’s College, London, this is an opportunity for India to underline that, despite pressure from the Trump administration, Prime Minister Modi can hold his own. “It shows Modi can craft a foreign policy of India based on India’s requirements, which is to have a stable and functional relationship with Russia,” he told Bloomberg.
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in New Delhi and was greeted at the airport by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a rare gesture highlighting close ties as the two nations look to deepen trade beyond energy and defense https://t.co/2nY4KCviqq pic.twitter.com/HINv2HRlEV
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 4, 2025
Other analysts also agree that Modi has to walk a political tightrope, considering that India is attempting to mend its ties with the US. Sumantra Bose, a geo political expert and a political science professor at Krea University, told The New York Times that India and Modi have to signal an ongoing commitment to Moscow without alienating the U.S. president. “It’s a fine balancing act,” Bose said. “He has to factor Trump’s unpredictable and unstable personality into his personal calculations.
But, Bose too agrees that Modi’s red carpet welcome to Putin is a message to Russia that “It’s okay, we haven’t given up on you”, and the fundamentals of the relationship remain strong.”
While there is also a perception that India still can’t alienate Russia, thanks to the mercurial Trump, Moscow too needs New Delhi at its side to keep the flow of crude going. After Trump’s sanction threat, India reduced its imports of Russian oil, which affected Russia’s finances.
