Putin visit: As the world order transforms, India’s ties with Russia must evolve too

Looking at the cooperation between the two, whether it is on defence materiel or navigating past twists and turns in the global order, India and Russia have understood each other’s requirements and managed to support each other in their time of need. But is the relationship ready for a new wave of geopolitical shifts?

The 1971 Indo-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation paved the way for India-Russia relations where both could benefit from bilateral ties. Moscow supported India in multilateral forums with its veto power and New Delhi bought its defence equipment from the Russian Federation (or Soviet Union before it split).

The relationship also had soft-power elements, with Indian movie actors finding popularity in Russia and the latter being a popular destination for Indian medical students.

In the 2000s, Russia’s support for the India-US nuclear deal as well as for India’s membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group assisted New Delhi in its negotiations at various levels. This led to a new dawn in the relationship between the US and India, making space for an enhanced global role for New Delhi. But this new role was not to be at the cost of its ties with Russia.

Even though India’s ties with the Group of Seven (G-7) countries—the US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan—have expanded significantly in the recent past, these nations were unable to convince India to speak against Russia in the context of Moscow’s actions in Ukraine.

India’s foreign policy has maintained a balance in its engagement with different nation-states, where a third party does not determine its relationship with any of them. If India’s engagement with Saudi Arabia is not determined by the latter’s relationship with Pakistan, ties between India and Russia should not be held hostage to India’s engagement with the US or Russia’s growing ties with China.

Russia is still etched in Indian minds as our one steady friend in the world. However, it is important to bear in mind that the Russia imprinted in Indian thought is a Russia of the past.

For more than a decade, Russia has been facing challenges and adapting to the world around it. Moscow was removed from the G-8, which was quickly converted into the G-7 in 2014 after Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

Since Russia embarked on a full-scale military operation against Ukraine in 2022, it has faced many hurdles, including Western sanctions and a loss of access to European and American markets, which until then had been integrated with the Russian market. Moscow, however, was able to garner some support from the Global South on the issue of pressure from the G-7.

Additionally, Russia has considerably expanded its relationship with China into different arenas, from military and diplomatic to cultural and economic. Moscow continues to face pressure at multilateral forums even as it tries to navigate its economy through multiple storms. The Russian Federation has also evolved its relationships with different powers in Asia and Europe to deal with a geopolitical landscape in flux.

Nostalgia is an important element in relations, but it should not act as a deterrent in finding pathways for the future. While Russia’s support had been valuable to India, a continuation of past policies may not suffice anymore.

Half a century ago, India was a newly independent state that was looking for support, economic and political, from an established global power; but today, India is poised to become the world’s fourth largest national economy. New Delhi thus seeks its own place in the global order on its own terms. Russia, once the second pole in a bipolar world, was India’s perpetual helper; today, it seeks assistance in evading sanctions. Moscow is also reinventing itself and seeking a new role in the comity of nations.

As India and Russia navigate new geopolitical realities, the mutual engagement may need to span scientific collaboration, academic exchanges and people-to-people connections, where understanding each other and breaking free of past baggage would be a key factor in finding new pathways.

The India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation provides space for the expansion of relations in many fields. A new entity, it hopes to expand the relationship in a direction that benefits both countries in equal measure.

The Russian President’s visit this week comes in the backdrop of India’s external affairs minister S. Jaishankar’s visits to Russia in August and November 2025 and the opening of two new Indian consulates in Russia.

With wide-ranging talks on the bilateral agenda, this visit may provide the impetus required to plug gaps in understanding between the two nations and identify areas and means of mutual cooperation that could yield fruitful results for both in today’s context of geopolitical dynamics.

The author is professor, Kautilya School of Public Policy in Hyderabad.