Editorial: The bonhomie of Modi and Putin

• The Indo-Russian summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin last Friday was carefully choreographed, both optically and substantively, to signal India’s will to resist arm-twisting and discriminatory tariffs by America and Western Europe. The show of bonhomie between the two leaders at every photo op, the strong business orientation of the two delegations and the discussions on a wider than normal range of topics together served to underscore the point that India’s ties with a longstanding ally would remain, as the PM said, “resilient to external pressures”.

This was the 23rd annual summit between the two countries, but only the second since Russia’s war with Ukraine began in February 2022. Coming at this juncture, it helped both leaders’ purposes. For Putin, it was an opportunity to break out of the diplomatic corral the West has tried to build around him. For Modi, it was a demonstration of his policy of multipolar alignment, a resolve that India will exercise its trade and geostrategic options if pushed too far.

The gains to India from this summit are tangible as well as strategic. Puttin signalled an understanding of New Delhi’s predicament vis a vis American tariffs when he assured “uninterrupted shipments” of oil, gas and coal to India, and offered collaboration on small nuclear reactors and completion of the Koodankulam nuclear project. India has, under pressure from Washington, cut back on oil imports from Russia but has not announced it as a policy decision. The accommodative approach by Moscow will ease the pressure on Modi to choose a side at this juncture while expanding New Delhi’s options on energy security generally.

The agreement on labour mobility is another potential plus for both India and Russia, addressing an area where one is in surplus and the other is in need. At a time when Western markets are being rocked by anti-immigration politics, opportunities for Indian skilled and semi-skilled workers in Russia would provide welcome relief for New Delhi.

The summit’s joint statement pledged a role for Indian investment in the Chennai–Vladivostok Corridor (Eastern Maritime route), Russia’s Far East and Arctic regions and promised to take negotiations forward on a free trade agreement between India and the Eurasian Economic Union. Both these initiatives are still in a nascent stage, but would be of great interest to India from a strategic perspective. To begin with, it offers Narendra Modi an alternative to the non-starter India-Middle East Economic Corridor, which remains subject to Donald Trump’s erratic interest in it.

The most promising outcome of the summit, however, relates to defence cooperation with Putin and Modi resolved to shift from the conventional buy-sell mode to a more integrated model with emphasis on joint research, co-development and co-production under the Make in India moniker. This offer will give India’s negotiating position some heft in the upcoming trade talks with the US. Washington is unlikely to match Putin’s offer.

The most significant part of the summit, however, is Modi and Putin’s resolve for greater use of national currencies in bilateral trade and payments, which, to Washington, will go down as a further move towards de-dollarisation. With more and more countries agreeing to deal without the dollar, this shift could gather momentum. By engaging with Russia on these terms, India is rightly arming itself with the leverage to be able to bargain harder with the West.