Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to visit India around December 5 to hold annual summit talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi that are expected to produce significant outcomes to further solidify bilateral strategic ties, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday (October 1, 2025).

While preparations are underway for the high-profile visit, it is not yet clear whether the Russian President will come for a day-long trip or if he will be in India for two days.

Ahead of Mr. Putin’s trip, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will travel to India next month to finalise the finer details of the presidential visit.

The Russian President had last visited New Delhi in 2021.

The two sides are also expected to hold a meeting under the framework of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military and Military-Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-M&MTC) before Mr. Putin’s trip, the people cited above said.

At the India-Russia annual summit, Mr. Modi and Mr. Putin are expected to deliberate on further expanding the “Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership” between the two countries. There is no official word yet on dates for Mr. Putin’s trip.

The focus of the talks could be to deepen cooperation in areas of defence and security, trade and energy, said one of the people cited above.

India and Russia have a mechanism under which India’s Prime Minister and the Russian President hold a summit meeting annually to review the entire gamut of ties. So far, 22 annual summit meetings have taken place alternatively in India and Russia.

In July last year, PM Modi travelled to Moscow for the annual summit. Russia has been a time-tested partner for India, and the country has been a key pillar of New Delhi’s foreign policy.

It is learnt that India may also look to procure additional batches of S-400 air defence missile systems from Russia after the weapons played a significant role during Operation Sindoor.

In October 2018, India had signed a $5 billion deal with Russia to buy five units of the S-400 air defence missile systems, despite a warning from the Trump administration that going ahead with the contract may invite U.S. sanctions.

Russia already supplied three of the five S-400 regiments India ordered, with the remaining two expected to be delivered in 2026. The delivery schedule was delayed due to Russia’s ongoing war with Ukraine.

A month back, Prime Minister Modi and President Putin held talks on the margins of the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in the Chinese city of Tianjin.

In the talks, the two sides vowed to strengthen their strategic ties. The Modi-Putin meeting took place days after the U.S. doubled tariffs on Indian goods to a whopping 50%, including a 25% additional duty for India’s purchase of Russian crude oil.

Defending its purchase of Russian crude oil, India has been maintaining that its energy procurement is driven by national interest and market dynamics.

In his televised opening remarks at the meeting, Mr. Modi told the Russian President that 140 crore Indians are eagerly waiting to welcome him in India in December.

“This is a reflection of the depth and scope of our Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership. India and Russia have always stood shoulder-to-shoulder even in the most difficult situations,” he had said.

The Prime Minister said that close cooperation between the two countries is important not only for the people of both countries but also for global peace, stability and prosperity.

In their upcoming summit talks, the two leaders are also expected to deliberate on the Ukraine conflict.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will pay an official visit to India in December, the Kremlin said Friday (August 29, 2025), as ties between the countries grow closer and after the United States imposed tariffs on New Dehli over its purchases of Russian oil.

Mr. Putin will also meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a regional summit in China on Monday, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters, including AFP, saying the pair would discuss “preparation for the December visit”.

U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed tariffs on Indian goods as punishment for New Delhi’s massive purchases of Russian oil, part of a campaign to pressure Moscow into ending its offensive in Ukraine.

Energy incomes are a key source of revenue for Moscow’s state budget.

Russia is also one of India’s top arms suppliers, and the warm ties between the two countries date back to the Soviet era.

Ukraine’s Western allies have sought to cut Russia’s export earnings since Moscow launched its military assault in February 2022.

But Russia has been able to redirect energy sales away from Europe to countries including India and China, ensuring the multi-billion-dollar flow of funds has continued.

India has argued it imported oil “from Russia because traditional supplies were diverted to Europe after the outbreak of the conflict”.

Putin has significantly curtailed his foreign travel amid the offensive on Ukraine, for which he was slapped with an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant.

India is not a party to the ICC and therefore not obligated to detain Putin.