POBNEWS24, Desk report Dhaka Dec 5, 2025 : Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold summit talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is on his first visit to India in four years, in New Delhi today. The meeting will be watched closely in the US and Europe, which have urged India in recent weeks to scale down Russian energy purchases and nudged Putin to bring the conflict in Ukraine to an end.
This is Putin’s first visit to India in four years and also the first since the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022. He last visited in December 2021 for the annual summit.
In an interview on Thursday, Putin described his relationship with PM Modi as both professional and personal, built on mutual trust and long-term cooperation.
Notably, PM Modi and the Russian President have held five telephone conversations in 2025, and held a meeting earlier this year on the sidelines of the SCO Heads of State Council Meeting in Tianjin, China, on September 1.
Putin in India | Key points
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold summit talks on Friday. Boosting defence ties, insulating India-Russia trade from external pressure and exploring cooperation in small modular reactors are set to be the focus of the summit between the two leaders.
Modi and Putin are also expected to discuss other topics such as labour and civil nuclear energy, and both sides are likely to announce new agreements to show the strength of their ties.
After the summit, both sides are expected to finalise several agreements, including those linked to trade.
Putin will also receive a ceremonial welcome and a tri-services guard of honour at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Friday, before heading to Raj Ghat to pay respects at the memorial to Mahatma Gandhi.
Modi and Putin will also take part in a business event organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and Roscongress at Bharat Mandapam.
In the evening, Putin will attend a state banquet hosted in his honour by President Droupadi Murmu. The Russian president is expected to depart from India at around 9 pm on Friday.
Posters of Putin were put up at key crossings in New Delhi, and Russian and Indian flags were placed along the main roads. The two countries have a long and close relationship that goes back to the Soviet Union and the Cold War.
The meeting is viewed as a chance for India to assert its strategic autonomy by strengthening defence and economic ties with Russia as the US urges India to scale down its purchases of Russian energy and military supplies.
Putin praised Modi on Thursday, saying the Indian prime minister is “not one to give in to pressure”, including pressure from the US through tariffs linked to Delhi’s oil trade with Moscow. He also pointed out that more than 90 per cent of their transactions now take place in their own currencies, which reduces dependence on the US dollar.
