By Alexandra Sharp
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at India’s ties with Russia, U.S.-mediated peace talks between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the last deceased Israeli hostage in Gaza.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi sit in a car as they depart Palam Air Force Base in New Delhi on Dec. 4.Grigory Sysoyev/AFP via Getty Images
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin to New Delhi on Thursday to kick off a two-day summit focused on bolstering economic cooperation and inking defense deals. For Putin, this is a chance to show the world that Moscow is not isolated on the world stage amid its war against Ukraine. But for Modi, this week’s talks are a test to see how well India can balance maintaining crucial ties with Russia while also trying to appease the United States.
New Delhi insists that it is a neutral party in the Russia-Ukraine war. However, U.S. President Donald Trump has accused India of financing Moscow’s war effort through its continued purchases of Russian oil. Indian trade with Russia has swelled from $10.1 billion before the COVID-19 pandemic to $68.7 billion in the past fiscal year, with more than a third of all Indian oil imports coming from Russia over the past three years.
Such actions have soured U.S.-India relations in recent months. Under the Biden administration, Washington viewed New Delhi as a vital partner to countering China in the region. But under Trump, that friendship has largely been cast aside in favor of heavy tariffs, with Trump deciding in August to double duties on India from 25 percent to 50 percent over its business dealings with Russian crude.
In October, the United States sanctioned Russia’s two largest oil corporations, Lukoil and Rosneft. In response, India’s biggest oil companies stopped buying Russian crude almost entirely. Putin has dismissed these actions as limited, telling India Today on Thursday that “our energy cooperation with India remains unaffected by current conditions, fleeting political swings or indeed the tragic events in Ukraine.”
Experts suggest that Modi minimizing India’s Russian oil purchases is an effort to resolve tensions with Trump. But that may not be enough to satisfy the White House, as New Delhi is still reliant on Moscow across several other sectors.
Notably, Russia is India’s biggest supplier of weapons, with Russian-made equipment making up more than 60 percent of New Delhi’s existing inventory. That includes most of India’s air defense systems, fighter jets, rifles, and missiles. This week, India is likely to announce that it will purchase Russian Su-57 fighter jets and S-400 air defense systems, the latter of which played a significant role in India’s four-day war with Pakistan in May.
Alongside weapons purchases, India is also hoping to secure new destinations for its exports to help counter the United States’ debilitating tariffs. In exchange, New Delhi plans to negotiate a more streamlined system to allow Indian citizens to work for companies in Russia, thereby alleviating some of Moscow’s war-induced labor shortages.
This is Putin’s first trip to India since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. However, the two leaders have met since then in Moscow and other countries.
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