India and Russia's strategic partnership, spanning nearly eight decades since diplomatic relations began in 1947, represents a time-tested collaboration in global peace and security. Annual summit meetings between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin have institutionalised this bilateral relationship, culminating in billions of dollars worth of agreements across defence, energy, infrastructure, and trade. While facing challenges including Russia's Ukraine war and military relations with Pakistan, the partnership endures through shared interests in establishing a multi-polar world order. Both nations continue working on areas of convergence including defence cooperation, energy projects, scientific research, cultural exchange, and building on their special privileged strategic partnership for mutual benefit.
India and the Russian Federation’s strategic partnership and eight decades of establishment of diplomatic relations, 1947-2026, have served as a historic benchmark and time-tested partnership in global peace and security. India and Russia, as strategic and special partners, have reaffirmed their commitment to cooperate bilaterally and also at various international forums. In the spirit of India’s foreign policy of Panch Sheel (‘Five Principles’) that has been the hallmark since the 1950s, this bilateral relationship is geared towards the establishment of a stable and predictable multi-polar and just world order based on sovereign equality of all States, territorial integrity and non-interference in their internal affairs and for a win-win proposition on both sides.
In contemporary international relations particularly in the conduct of bilateral relations and foreign policy and in the shaping of decision-making, personal chemistry among top leaders does play a pivotal role. Nehru-Kennedy, Indira Gandhi-Brezhnev, Dr. Manmohan Singh-George W. Bush and Narendra Modi-Vladimir Putin, have been marked by extreme openness, cordiality and frankness with regular exchange of views encompassing wide range of issues. As indicator, Russia-India Special, Privileged, Strategic Partnership (Narendra Modi-Vladimir Putin, 2021) can be taken as culmination of personal chemistry and high camaraderie among top leaders.
Analysis of Bilateral Cooperation: Areas of Convergence
At the bilateral level between Russia and India, annual summit level meeting between the Prime Minister of India and the President of the Russian Federation is the highest institutionalised dialogue mechanism that has been set up under the Strategic Partnership Dialogue between India and the Russian Federation. In the Annual Summit meeting in 2025, major agreements were signed, worth billions of dollars, in sectors including defence, climate change, polar research, legal arbitration, investment promotion, energy, trade and innovation, agriculture, space and smart cities.
Important deals included various aspects of bilateral defence cooperation: Inter-Governmental Agreements (IGAs) for five S-400 ‘Triumf’ air defence missile systems, four Admiral Grigorovich-class (Project 11356) guided missile stealth frigates and a share-holders agreement for a joint venture (JV) to manufacture 200 ‘Kamov’-226 helicopters in India. Both sides also signed an important agreement for the joint study of a gas pipeline to India from Russia. In a separate agreement, a Russian consortium comprising energy giant Rosneft Oil Company, commodities trader Trafigura and private investment group United Capital Partners agreed to purchase 98 percent of Essar Oil for $10.9 billion. Rosneft also signed an agreement with ONGC Videsh for education and training in oil and gas sector. Russia has also agreed to invest $500 million into the Indian infrastructure, along with an equal investment by the newly formed National Infrastructure Investment Fund (NIIF), to form a $1 billion “Russian-Indian Investment Fund.” An MoU was signed to set up the bilateral investment fund by NIIF of India with Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), to facilitate high-technology investment in both the countries.
Furthermore, several new areas of cooperation were envisaged in civil nuclear energy, defence, hydrocarbons, satellite navigation, railways, solar energy, heavy engineering, super-computing, visa simplification, Ayurveda, and media. Prime Minister Modi and President Putin also adopted a Joint Statement “Shared Trust, New Horizons.’ Besides the Annual Summit meeting, PM Modi has met Russian President Putin on the sidelines of several other meetings as well. Since then, both the leaders have been meeting one on one on a regular basis each year, both physically and virtually, including in multilateral meetings such as at BRICS.
In sync with enduring friendship, trust and confidence and commonality of interests that has withstood nearly eight decades, both countries have pledged to contribute to the evolution of a genuine new world order, which would be stable, secure, equitable and sustainable and will be based on due respect for the core principles of the UN Charter and international law and in particular to be sensitive to the genuine needs of Global South in general and India in particular.
To fulfil this vision, both Russia and India have endeavoured to strengthen relevant international institutions and mechanisms. Both countries have reaffirmed that there is a need for the international community to commit itself fully to the idea of UN and emphasis on multi-lateral initiatives. India and Russia have favoured strengthening of UN’s pivotal role in promoting international security in the post-Cold War world. The two countries stood for enhancing the efficiency of the UN and its key body, Security Council and making them more reflective of the contemporary geo-political and geo-economic realities and rendering them more representatives of the interests of the vast majority of the UN members.
In this context, Russia has reaffirmed its firm support to India as a strong, viable, eminently suitable and deserving candidate for permanent membership in an expanded United Nations Security Council in the very near future. Both the countries have reiterated their commitment to work towards a new cooperative security order in Asia and in the larger global scene that recognised the legitimate security interests of all countries and promoted global peace and stability and strengthened non-proliferation and disarmament goals. Both India and Russia are fully determined to strengthen cooperation in the fight against terrorism, separatism and extremism, and to counter the support these disruptive acts receive from organised crime groups, illicit arms and drugs trafficking cartel.
Economic Dimension
The two sides have emphasised the need to jointly find new ways and means to further strengthen bilateral trade and economic relations by promoting investments and trade as well as removing trade barriers and tariffs. Both Prime minister Modi and President Putin have agreed to accord high priority to discussing and formulating policies to encourage and facilitate mutually beneficial commercial interaction between the private sectors of the two countries. To promote smoother and greater movement of businessmen, the two countries have set a target of US$30 billion bilateral trade by 2026 and with a target of $100 billion in bilateral trade by 2030.
As per information available in the web site of Embassy of India, Moscow, additionally, about 1,500 Afghan nationals of Indian origin live in Russia. About 500 Indian businessmen reside in Russia out of which around 200 reside and work in Moscow itself. An estimated 300 registered Indian companies operate in Russia. Majority of Indian businessmen/companies in Russia are involved in trading various items that have huge demand among Russian consumers, while some represent Indian banks, pharmaceuticals, hydrocarbon and engineering companies. Tea, coffee, textiles, tobacco, pharmaceuticals, rice, spices, leather footwear, granite, I.T. and garments are amongst the products being imported by these companies from India. There are approximately 5,000 Indian students, with most of them pursuing medical studies, enrolled in medical and technical institutions spread throughout Russia.
Defence and Strategic Dimension
In the areas of defence cooperation, India and Russia have longstanding and wide-ranging cooperation. India-Russia military technical cooperation has evolved to one involving joint research, development and production of advanced defence technologies and systems. In order to accelerate military-technical cooperation within the fulcrum of Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between the two countries, both countries have reaffirmed their strong commitment to continue their cooperation in this field. In this context, the Indian-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation is noteworthy. Indian-Russian exercises INDRA involving ground forces in Russia’s Far East in 2016 was another step in that direction. Apart from regular high-level visits, both sides have underlined the need to expand training, joint exercises and institutionalised interactions between the Armed Forces of both countries. Collaborative design, development and production of high-technology military equipment and the establishment of the Joint Venture for production of Ka-226T helicopters in India are some of the examples of proactive engagement.
The Bilateral Science & Technology Committee of India and Russia have focused on matters relating to R&D collaboration in such high-tech areas as IT, communication, cyber security, medical engineering, outer space cooperation, remote sensing, etc.
Similarly, BrahMos Missile System, Joint design and development of the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft, as well as the licensed production in India of SU-30 aircraft and T-90 tanks, are examples of such flagship cooperation. Dedication to the nation the Russian-built aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya off the coast of Goa was another example of increased cooperation in the defence arena.
Cultural and Educational Exchange
Comparatively small and yet quite vibrant, to showcase India’s soft power capability as a major source of attraction, Indian diasporic Community in the Russian Federation that is estimated at about 30,000 including in its major cities such as Moscow, St. Petersburg, Ekaterinburg, Sochi, Kazan, etc, have been extremely proactive in its engagement with the Russian public and its government for enhancing the relationship with India and the country’s soft power and taking it to a higher benchmark.
ICCR India Chairs have been instituted in various Russian universities to promote and encourage critical study of contemporary Indian studies. Hindustani Samaj is the oldest Indian organisation in Russia functioning since 1957 with activities being organised all year long. Other Indian organisations in Moscow include, Indian Business Alliance, Overseas Bihar Association, AMMA (All Moscow Malayalee Association), DISHA (Indian-Russian Friendship Society), AMRIT India Cultural Centre of Tarusa City, Textile Business Alliance, Bhartiya Sanskritik Samaj, and Ramakrishna Society Vedanta Centre that showcase Indian culture in its myriad forms to Russian national and public on a regular basis. Embassy of India School in Moscow is affiliated to CBSE Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan in New Delhi with teachers deputed from India. The School has classes from I to XII and caters to the educational needs of over 350 students.
Geopolitical Challenges and Opportunities
While India and the Russia are committed to widen and strengthen the framework of the existing cooperation in different areas and to consolidate their strategic partnership by taking it to a higher level in the years to come, some ominous clouds hover over state of uncertainty on the issue of ongoing war that started in February 2022 in Ukraine and Prime minister Modi’s fervent call to pursue dialogue and diplomacy and for ending bloodshed and human suffering at the earliest and by stating that “today’s era is not of war’.
Similarly, Russia’s offer of support to Taliban in the shaping of future Afghanistan as well as in demonstrating a military relationship, albeit in a limited way, by agreeing to sell attack helicopters to Pakistan, have been noted by the strategic establishment in Delhi. Irrespective of geo-political and geo-economic imperatives, it is very likely that India-Russia relations will weather these onerous challenges and will endure towards a more durable world order in which both countries will benefit and find areas of commonalities to work on and take the momentum forward. Future summit and bilateral meetings between India and Russia and between Prime minister Modi and President Putin are likely to dawn a new beginning to the nearly eight decade old tried and tested friendship and cooperation between the two countries and by emphasising on areas of convergence.
As the Eurasian region becomes the epicentre of tectonic shift in international system and undergo profound transformation in terms of power configurations, and for wider manifestation of power in Central Asia and in the its outer periphery including in South Asia, India and Russia are likely to forge a more durable and sustainable partnership for navigating strategically amidst fast changing geo-political, geo-economic and geo-strategic churning and tumult in global politics.
Prof. Dr. Mohammed Badrul Alam is Formerly, Director of Research; Professor and Head, Department of Political Science, Faculty of Social Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi, India. The views expressed are his own.
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