Ahead of Delhi visit, Putin vows deeper partnership with India, says he wants ties at a 'qualitatively new level'

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday (Dec 2) said Moscow wants to push its partnerships with India and China to a "qualitatively new level," with deeper cooperation across key sectors. His remarks come just a day before he flies to New Delhi for the 23rd India-Russia Annual Summit on December 4–5 at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This will be Putin's first visit to India since 2021.

What did Putin say?

Speaking at an investment forum in Moscow, Putin said Russia's goal is to expand the technological depth of its projects with both countries, pointing to ongoing work in energy, industry, space, agriculture, and other areas. "We aim to elevate cooperation with the People's Republic of China and the Republic of India to a qualitatively new level by strengthening its technological component. This is the objective of numerous joint projects in energy, industry, space, agriculture, and other sectors," he said.

The Russian President noted that his economic dialogue with Chinese President Xi Jinping has been steady and detailed, and said he expects a similar conversation with PM Modi during his visit. "We have established a substantive dialogue on economic issues with the President of the People's Republic of China, Mr. Xi Jinping. We will also discuss these topics in detail during the upcoming visit to India with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, including increasing imports of Indian goods to our market," he said.

Defence cooperation, S-400, Su-57 on the cards

Ahead of the visit, the Kremlin said that defence cooperation will be a major talking point. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said discussions could include the sale of additional S-400 long-range air defence systems. "Highly on the agenda and this could be discussed. Our military industry is working pretty well. Russian arms 36 per cent in Indian armed forces and hopefully will continue," Peskov said.

He also said Moscow hopes to discuss India’s potential interest in the Su-57, Russia’s fifth-generation stealth fighter, calling it "the best plane in the world." Peskov highlighted the long-running BrahMos missile partnership and said, "as far as our cooperation in the defence industry goes, let's remember the famous BrahMos missiles. It's not only just production, or it's not only acts of buying or selling, it's exchange of high technologies, and it really paves the way for a bright future in this field of cooperation.

"We're developing quite, quite a variety of very complicated systems. And in this sense, of course, we have capabilities. We are ready to share this with our Indian friends, our experience," he added.

Nuclear energy may also feature prominently at the summit. Peskov said Russia plans to offer India small, flexible reactors, stressing that Moscow has "real experience" in building them and sees scope for expanding joint investments. He pointed to Russia’s key role in developing India’s civilian nuclear sector through the Kudankulam project and said the Kremlin hopes "for the continuation of this project".