Putin on 2-Day State Visit to India from Dec 4: S-400, Su-57, Oil Trade and $100-Bn Roadmap on Agenda at 23rd India–Russia Annual Summit

Visit schedule and significance

• Putin will be in India on December 4–5 on the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the 23rd India–Russia Annual Summit, with President Droupadi Murmu hosting a state banquet in his honour.

• This will be his first visit to India since the start of the Russia–Ukraine war and his first trip back after the December 2021 summit, underlining the strategic importance New Delhi and Moscow attach to their “Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership.”

Key agenda: defence and energy

• India is expected to push for additional S-400 Triumf air-defence squadrons and raise delivery timelines for pending regiments, while Russia is pitching Su-57 fifth‑generation fighters with a high level of technology transfer and possible joint production.

• Talks are also likely to cover broader defence-industrial cooperation, including air-defence modernisation, BrahMos and other joint projects, as well as nuclear energy and connectivity initiatives such as the Vladivostok–Chennai maritime corridor.

Oil trade, US tariffs and economics

• Discussions on Russian crude supplies are expected, as India has emerged as a major buyer of discounted Russian oil since 2022.

• Washington has already tightened pressure on New Delhi over this energy engagement, including new punitive tariff measures under President Donald Trump, and the summit is expected to factor in these US moves as the two sides shape a new economic roadmap for 2030 and a goal of taking annual trade towards the USD 100 billion mark.

Diplomatic build-up and recent contacts

• National Security Advisor Ajit Doval’s Moscow visit in August, where he met Putin and flagged the “very special” nature of the partnership, as well as multiple high‑level exchanges including External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s trip, helped lock in the dates and agenda for the summit.

• Modi and Putin also held a one-on-one drive and talks in the Russian leader’s car on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in China earlier this year, reinforcing the personal rapport ahead of the New Delhi meeting.

ICC warrant and Putin’s limited travel

• The visit is notable because Putin has sharply curtailed foreign travel since the International Criminal Court issued a warrant against him in March 2023 over alleged war crimes in Ukraine, prompting him to skip both the G20 summits in India and Brazil, where Russia was instead represented by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

• India, which is not a party to the Rome Statute, continues to host him as part of its strategic autonomy doctrine, using the summit to balance relations with Russia even as Western sanctions and pressure intensify.