Vladimir Putin begins a two-day visit to India today, his first since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, during which he and Narendra Modi will sign deals on defence and energy. Western efforts to drive a wedge between them have been fruitless.
A special relationship
The ambassadors of Germany and France and the British high commissioner in New Delhi caused a minor diplomatic incident on Monday when they published an article in the Times of India blaming Putin for the ongoing war in Ukraine. The Ministry of External Affairs made its displeasure known, with officials telling the Hindu newspaper that the intervention was “very unusual” and “not an acceptable diplomatic practice to give public advice on third country relations”.
Europe and the United States tried to persuade Modi to pick sides by condemning the Russian invasion in 2022 but India has consistently abstained on most United Nations resolutions on the war. Meanwhile, relations between Moscow and New Delhi have become closer if anything.
India imports more than 80 per cent of the crude oil it needs but before the start of the war, only 1 per cent of the total came from Russia. When western sanctions forced Moscow to sell its oil at a steep discount, India sharply increased its purchases and Russia accounted for 35 per cent of its oil imports in 2024.
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Last August, Donald Trump imposed a 25 per cent tariff on Indian goods because he said India’s oil purchases were helping to prolong the war. India has cut its imports from Russia sharply since US sanctions on Russian oil companies Rosneft and Lukoil came into force two weeks ago.
When India gained its independence at the start of the cold war it chose not to align with either side, joining other post-colonial states to found the Non-Aligned Movement in 1955. But as the US stepped up military and financial support to Pakistan in the 1970s, Russia became India’s main supplier of arms, a position it still holds despite increased weapons purchases from western countries.
The end of the cold war brought a warming of relations with Washington, which formed a Quad with India, Japan and Australia to counter China’s growing power in Asia. But Modi’s policy of multi-alignment, or omni-alignment, has also seen India become more deeply integrated into non-western groups such as Brics and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
New Delhi’s relationship with Beijing remains difficult, with an unresolved border dispute and a deepening economic and defence relationship between China and Pakistan. Trump’s cosier relationship with Islamabad and his targeting of India with tariffs has brought a fresh instability to relations with Washington.
Meanwhile, Russia remains for India a crucial continental counterbalance to China and a valuable hedge against the US. Their relationship has been remarkably stable for almost 80 years and Putin’s visit this week is only likely to strengthen it.
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