Putin arrives in Delhi tomorrow for high-stakes India visit amid strengthening ties

Russian President Vladimir Putin will land in Indian national capital, New Delhi on Thursday for a tightly packedtwo-day state visit, his first trip to India since 2021. The visit, heavy with ceremony and substantive talks, shows the enduring strategic partnership between the world’s largest democracy and a Russia increasingly looking to Asia amid Western sanctions over Ukraine.

Putin will be received at the airport by top Indian officials before heading to his hotel. Who exactly will welcome the Russian President is yet to be disclosed. In a now-familiar ritual that has come to symbolise the personal chemistry between the two leaders, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is hosting a private dinner for the Russian president on Thursday night, away from cameras and delegations.

Friday will follow the full protocol of a state visit. President Putin will be accorded a ceremonial welcome at the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan, complete with a Guard of Honour presented by all three Indian armed services. After inspecting the guard and being introduced to members of PM Modi’s cabinet, the Russian leader will pay homage at Raj Ghat, laying a wreath at the samadhi of Mahatma Gandhi, a mandatory stop for virtually every visiting head of state or government.

The core of the visit unfolds at Hyderabad House. Restricted-format talks, limited to just six to eight members on each side, will allow the top Indian, & Russian leaders to speak frankly before larger delegation-level discussions begin. Indian officials say pacts will be signed in trade, economic, health care, media sectors with key focus on a mobility pact that will allow Indians to travel to Russia. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin Spokesman in an online briefing said focus will be on firming up trade and defence ties.

A joint statement and press statement by the two leaders will follow a working lunch hosted by PM Modi. Business leaders from both countries will hold parallel meetings, with Indian firms keen to deepen investments in Russia’s resource-rich east and Russian companies looking for new markets amid western sanctions on Russia. The day will conclude on a formal note. President Putin will call on President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan before attending a state banquet in his honour. A departure ceremony will mark the end of the visit, with the Russian president flying back to Moscow late Friday night.

For New Delhi, the visit is as much about securing energy and defence supplies as it is about signalling strategic autonomy in an increasingly polarised world impacted by Trump's tariffs. For the Kremlin, every handshake in Delhi is a reminder that Russia still has friends in high places.