Defence upgrades, oil strain, tariff troubles on agenda in Putin-Modi meeting

By Anjali Sharma

WASHINGTON – President of Russia Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi summit talks on Friday are set to deliver major outcomes on defence, trade and energy cooperation, media reported cited the official sources.

According to the officials on Thursday Mr. Putin will receive a ceremonial welcome at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

He will then visit Raj Ghat, hold restricted and delegation-level talks at Hyderabad House, interact with the Indian industry, and attend a state banquet hosted by President Droupadi Murmu before departing for Moscow at 9 PM.

The summit is expected to produce a series of agreements across defence, labour mobility, logistics, and trade, outcomes closely watched internationally, as they unfold amid a sharp chill in India-US relations and renewed Western pressure on Russian energy supplies.

President Putin began his day with the traditional guard of honor at Rashtrapati Bhavan, followed by a visit to Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial. The core of the day will be the summit at Hyderabad House, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Russian President will first meet in a restricted format before holding broader delegation talks.

Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Roscongress, organized a joint business event at Bharat Mandapam is also on the agenda.

Putin will wrap up his visit with a formal banquet at Rashtrapati Bhavan and is scheduled to leave Delhi at around 9 pm.

The major focus of the talks will be bilateral trade from external shocks, addressing India’s ballooning deficit driven largely by crude oil imports, and advancing defence cooperation, including progress on the S-400 system, small modular reactors and potential future platforms.

Prime Minister Modi personally welcomed Putin at Delhi’s Palam airport (a gesture India usually reserves for only a handful of leaders);

 Artistes performing traditional dances greeted the Russian President at the tarmac, underlined the significance India attached to his first visit in four years.

Mr. Modi hosted an intimate dinner for the visiting leader.

The residence at Lok Kalyan Marg was lit up with flowers, flags and special décor for the occasion. The conversations over dinner are understood to have laid the groundwork for Friday’s summit outcomes.

Modi also emphasized the personal chemistry between the two leaders, wrote on X that he was “delighted” to welcome his “friend” President Putin and looked forward to their discussions.

The summit came a day after comprehensive talks between Indian and Russian defence ministers in Delhi.

Discussions included India’s plans for additional S-400 units and other critical hardware, systems that played a pivotal role in Operation Sindoor.

The 2018 deal for five S-400 units had gone through despite explicit warnings from Washington under its Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov had indicated that the possibility of supplying Su-57 fifth-generation fighter jets may also surface in the Modi-Putin talks.

India is evaluating options in that category, with Rafale, F-21, F/A-18 and Eurofighter also in the race.

A logistics support pact, part of a broader defence cooperation framework, is among the agreements expected to be inked.

India is likely to push for narrowing the trade imbalance. Notably, imports from Russia hover around USD 65 billion annually, compared to roughly USD 5 billion worth of Indian exports. New Delhi is particularly concerned about vulnerable sectors such as fertilizers, where Russia supplies 3–4 million tonnes each year.

The talks will assess the impact of fresh US sanctions on Russian oil companies.

India’s crude purchases from Russia have dipped recently, though Moscow has reportedly offered deeper discounts to stabilize the flow.

Western pressure has intensified after Washington imposed a 50 per cent tariff on Indian goods, along with additional duties tied to India’s Russian oil imports. The move has strained Delhi-Washington ties to their lowest point in two decades.

Peskov has said the temporary decline in India’s purchases is understandable under sanctions but stressed that Russia is taking steps to strengthen supplies.

Putin is expected to brief Modi on the latest US moves and diplomatic efforts related to the Ukraine conflict. India has maintained that dialogue and diplomacy remain the only viable route to a lasting resolution.

Officials said Indian exports to Russia are poised for expansion in pharma, agro-products and consumer goods. The two sides will also revisit New Delhi’s long-pending interest in a free trade agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union.

The annual summit mechanism is a decades-old tradition. So far, 22 summits have been held, alternated  between the two countries. The last time Putin visited Delhi was in 2021; PM Modi travelled to Moscow for the summit last July.

Both capitals to describe the relationship as “time-tested”, even as geopolitical equations shift rapidly around them.