It is a good time and moment for Bilateral Relations between India and Russia as President Putin of Russia visited India on 4-5 December of 2025 to participate in the 23rd Annual Summit and held talks with PM Modi to discuss a wide range of matters and sign a variety of agreements and MOU’s. India has had a very historic relationship with Russia for decades. As EAM Jaishankar notes this is one of the most steadiest relationships between both the countries. Russia’s relations with other countries has seen ups and downs, for example the famous Sino-Soviet split, but notwithstanding that India and USSR maintained friendly relations even during difficult times amidst the brewing Cold War between U.S. and Soviet Union. Some important things to note of course is Soviet Union’s help to India during 1971 war and during Goa liberation. Indians hold these close but significant moments very dearly in their heart.

Talking about Russia, most people and mainstream media generally talk about military cooperation between both the countries,i.e India’s imports of military hardware from Russia and various other things like S-400 air defence systems, jets,etc. Yes Military cooperation has been a key aspect in the relationship for many years. But the recent visit was more focused on trade and mobility. No defence agreements were announced as expected by me earlier. There could be two reasons for this according to me. 1. Russia has been very much busy in Ukraine for a long time. 2. Russia too felt let’s focus our shift to trade as India has a large trade deficit with Russia which means India imports more goods and services than it exports to Russia with oil being a significant part of it on which India is still heavily foreign dependent to meet its growing energy demand. Increasing trade and reducing trade deficit between both the countries is easier said than done.Sanctions and various other economic coercions hamper this from happening. So both the countries have decided to trade in national currencies to bypass the U.S. dollar due to its volatility and misuse. This is a good step to forge more balanced economic cooperation. Coming to nuclear cooperation between both the countries, Russia reassured India that it will continue to support this aspect of relationship to enhance clean energy cooperation with continuous flow of cheap oil in its current form. Upcoming reforms specifically the liability law issue will give impetus to this end and prove helpful.

After the meeting a joint statement was released titled:  INDIA-RUSSIA: A Time-Tested Progressive Partnership, Anchored in Trust and Mutual Respect. Now, the title itself tells you the story about the significance that both the countries attach to this growing relationship. But it is also important to note that today’s Russia is not the USSR. By these, what I mean to say is that both Russia and India have to unanimously acknowledge their importance in World Politics and in the era of Multipolarity that they live in. Cooperation between both the countries should extend beyond just defence and energy and other aspects should also be given importance and harnessed and not overlooked. Going ahead, Russia’s relations with China too will play an important factor in India’s calculation. This was clearly seen and observed during the kind of support that Russia extended to India after the Pahalgam terrorist attack .