Russia’s Putin to boost ‘special’ strategic partnership during India trip
The Russian leader and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will sign trade deals during their meeting next week
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will discuss all aspects of their countries’ “privileged strategic partnership” when Putin visits New Delhi next week, the Kremlin said.
India, a major buyer of Russian oil, has also bought its weapons for decades, though a top defence official said the country had bought US arms worth nearly US$30 billion in the past decade and aims to produce more of its own equipment.
“They [the Russians] have been our friends through both fair and foul weather, and we are not going to sort of stop our defence cooperation with them any time soon, but I do want to stress that India follows a policy of strategic autonomy,” Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh said in New Delhi on Friday.
India was diversifying its suppliers, he told an industry event, adding: “But more than anything else we are trying to ensure that we increasingly do spend the bulk of our money within the country.”
Putin last visited India in December 2021, just a few months before Russia went to war in Ukraine the following February.
“This visit is of great importance, providing an opportunity to comprehensively discuss the extensive agenda of Russian-Indian relations as a particularly privileged strategic partnership,” the Kremlin said in a statement.