Putin, Modi to talk trade, defence ties during meet

Measures to insulate India-Russia trade from sanctions imposed by the US, an offer on small modular reactors for nuclear energy and deepening of defence cooperation will be on the agenda for the summit between President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi this week, a key aide to the Russian leader said on Tuesday.

- Rezaul H Laskar

Putin will travel to New Delhi on December 4 for the annual summit the following day, with the meeting being seen as an opportunity for India to emphasise its strategic autonomy by reinvigorating defence and economic ties with Russia against the backdrop of pressure from the US to draw down on purchases of Russian energy and military gear. This will be Putin's first visit to India since the start of the invasion of Ukraine.

Moscow intends to use the summit to protect growing trade and economic ties with New Delhi from sanctions imposed by the US, and to inject new life into longstanding cooperation in the defence and civil nuclear energy spheres, Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman for Putin, told an online media briefing.

The two sides have finalised an agreement for mobility of skilled and semi-skilled manpower and negotiations began last week on a free trade agreement (FTA) between India and the Eurasian Economic Union, a five-member bloc including Russia, that is expected to address New Delhi's concerns about tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade, officials of the external affairs ministry said.

Peskov described a 25% tariff imposed by the US on Indian goods over Russian oil purchases as a bilateral matter between New Delhi and Washington, but said Russia is determined not to allow anyone to interfere in the growth of trade with India. Noting that this issue will be discussed at the summit on Friday, he acknowledged that US sanctions could lead to "insignificant drops and decreases" in oil trade with India in the short term.