Putin to visit India in December for annual summit

• Russian President Vladimir Putin will pay a State visit to India from December 4 to 5 for the 23rd India-Russia annual summit.

• Putin will hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

• President Droupadi Murmu will also receive Putin and host a banquet in his honour.

• The forthcoming State visit 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.

• India and Russia have a mechanism under which India’s PM and the Russian President hold a summit meeting annually to review the entire gamut of ties.

India-Russia Bilateral Ties

• Russia has been a longstanding and time-tested partner for India. 

• Development of India-Russia relations has been a key pillar of India’s foreign policy. 

• Since the signing of the ‘Declaration on the India-Russia Strategic Partnership’ in October 2000 (during the visit of President Putin), India-Russia ties have acquired a qualitatively new character with enhanced levels of cooperation in almost all areas, including political, security, defence, trade and economy, science & technology, culture, and people-to-people ties. 

• During the visit of the Russian President to India in December 2010, the Strategic Partnership was elevated to the level of ‘Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership’.

• In December 2021, a new dimension to the bilateral cooperation was added with the first 2+2 Dialogue (foreign and defence ministers of both countries) taking place alongside the Summit-level talks.

• India has wide-ranging cooperation with Russia in the field of defence. 

• India-Russia military technical cooperation has evolved from a buyer-seller framework to one involving joint research, development and production of advanced defence technologies and systems. 

• Bilateral projects include the supply of S-400, licensed production of T-90 tanks and Su-30 MKI, supply of MiG-29 and Kamov helicopters, INS Vikramaditya, production of AK-203 rifles in India and BrahMos missiles.

• Science & technology has played a key role in the bilateral India-Russia partnership, especially in the early days after India’s independence. 

• Today, India and Russia work together on basic sciences, materials science, mathematics and cutting-edge areas like India’s manned spaceflight program (Gaganyaan), nanotechnologies, etc. 

• India’s only nuclear power plant established with another country is in Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu which is established in collaboration with Russia.

• The primary mechanism at the government level for enhancing trade and economic cooperation is the India-Russia Intergovernmental Commission for Trade, Economic, Scientific & Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC).

• Intensifying the trade and economic relations has been identified as a priority area by both the leaders who had set the targets of increasing bilateral investment to $50 billion (by 2025) and bilateral trade to $100 billion (by 2030). 

• Bilateral trade between India and Russia reached a record high of $68.7 billion in FY 2024-25. 

• It comprises India’s exports worth $4.9 billion and imports from Russia amounting to $63.8 billion. 

• Major items of export from India include pharmaceuticals, organic and inorganic chemicals, iron & steel and marine products.

• Major items of import from Russia include oil and petroleum products, vegetable oil (particularly sunflower oil), fertilizers, coking coal, precious stones and metals.