Putin lauds India with eye on military, energy
RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin lauded India as ‘a great power’ on Monday (6) as he arrived in New Delhi to bolster military and energy ties with a traditional ally being courted by Washington.
It is only the Russian leader’s second trip abroad since the coronavirus pandemic began - he skipped both the G20 and COP26 summits this year - after a June summit with US President Joe Biden in Geneva.
‘We perceive India as a great power, a friendly nation and a time-tested friend,’ Putin said in the Indian capital alongside Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In its efforts to address a rising China, Washington has set up the QUAD security dialogue with India, Japan, and Australia, raising concerns in both Beijing and Moscow.
India was close to the Soviet Union during the Cold War, a relationship that has endured, with both calling it a ‘special privileged strategic partnership’.
Putin’s visit was ‘hugely symbolic’, said Nandan Unnikrishnan from the New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation think tank.
Nonetheless Putin has to contend with complex regional dynamics, with tensions mounting between
New Delhi and Beijing, traditionally an ally of Moscow, following deadly clashes in a disputed Himalayan region.
India and Russia normally hold annual summits, but the leaders’ last in-person meeting was on the sidelines of the 2019 BRICS Summit in Brazil.
‘The leaders will review the state and prospects of bilateral relations and discuss ways to further strengthen the strategic partnership between the two countries,’ India’s ministry of external affairs said in a statement last month.
The two countries’ foreign and defence ministers held talks Monday ahead of Putin’s arrival.
A number of agreements and contracts were signed on small arms and military co-operation, India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh tweeted.