Russia’s Putin seeks to boost energy and defense exports by visiting India

• President Putin visits India after four years.
• India-Russia to expand nuclear energy cooperation.
• Moscow is likely to seek help to find spare parts for its oil assets.
  

NEW DELHI: Russian President Vladimir Putin begins a two-day visit to India from Thursday, proposing more sales of Russian oil, missile systems and fighter jets in a bid to restore energy and defense ties battered by US pressure on the South Asian nation.

Russia has supplied arms to India for decades, with New Delhi emerging as the top buyer of offshore oil despite Western sanctions following Moscow’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

But India’s crude imports are set to hit a three-year low this month after tightening sanctions on Russia coincided with rising purchases of oil and gas from the US.

In his first visit to the Indian capital in four years for a summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Putin will be joined by Defense Minister Andrei Belusov and a broad delegation from business and industry.

“Putin’s visit offers an opportunity for Delhi to reaffirm the strength of its special relationship with Moscow, despite recent developments, and to make progress on new arms deals,” said Michael Kugelman of the Atlantic Council think tank.

“India-Russia summits are never purely visual affairs, given the nature of the relationship,” added Kugelman, senior South Asia fellow at the Washington-based body.

New initiatives are likely to be announced, he added, even if they mostly relate to low-hanging fruit, he said.

Possible US reaction

But Indian officials worry that any new energy and defense deal with Russia could provoke a backlash from US President Donald Trump, who doubled tariffs to 50 percent in August on Indian goods as punishment for New Delhi’s purchases of Russian crude.

Ahead of Putin’s visit, officials from both sides held talks in areas ranging from defense to shipping and agriculture. In August, they agreed to start talks on a free trade agreement between India and the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union.

They are also in talks to expand their cooperation in civil nuclear energy, Indian analysts said.

Putin’s delegation includes executives from major Russian lender Sberbank and state arms exporter Rosoboronexport, as well as the heads of sanctioned oil companies Rosneft and GazpromNeft, an industry source with direct knowledge of the matter said.

In the talks, Moscow is likely to seek India’s help in procuring spare parts and technical equipment for its oil assets, as sanctions have choked access to key suppliers, the industry source and a separate Indian government source said.

He spoke on condition of anonymity as the matter is sensitive.

India is likely to go ahead with restoring state gas explorer ONGC Videsh Ltd’s 20% stake in the Sakhalin-1 project in Russia’s Far East, the government source added.

India has reached a trade deal with the US by the end of the year as most of its refiners have stopped buying Russian oil, although widening discounts are now attracting some state refiners.

Indian Oil Corp has placed orders from non-sanctioned Russian entities for December and January loading, while Bharat Petroleum Corp is in the advanced stages of ordering, sources at the two companies said.

The sources requested anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Dependence on the defense sector

Unlike argon, India has no plans to freeze defense ties with Moscow anytime soon as it requires continued support for the many Russian systems it operates, Defense Minister Rajesh Kumar Singh said last week.

Russian Sukhoi-30 jets make up the majority of India’s 29 fighter squadrons, and Moscow has also offered its most advanced fighter, the Su-57, which is likely to feature in this week’s talks, two Indian officials familiar with the matter said.

India has yet to make a decision on whether to buy the jet, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

However, India is likely to discuss buying more units of the S-400 air defense system, Singh said last week. It now has three units, with delivery of two more pending under a 2018 deal.

Recent US-Russia talks to end the war in Ukraine could help facilitate the cooperation of Indian officials with Moscow, said Harsh Pant, head of foreign policy studies at India’s Observer Research Foundation think tank.

But ties continue to appear strained, he said.

“A large part of the trade relationship was based on energy, which is now losing steam under the threat of sanctions from the United States,” he added.

“And at the end of the day, all that’s left is the defense, which continues to tie the two together.”