Moscow/New Delhi: India and Russia are expected to forge a more durable and sustainable partnership to navigate the fast-changing geopolitical, geoeconomic and geostrategic shifts and uncertainties in global politics. The partnership assumes greater significance as the Eurasian region emerges as the epicentre of tectonic shifts in the international system, reshaping power configurations with wider implications across Central Asia and its outer periphery, including South Asia.
India and the Russian Federation’s strategic partnership, along with eight decades of diplomatic ties (1947–2026), has stood as a historic milestone and a time-tested pillar of global peace and security, a report in the ‘International Centre for Peace Studies’ detailed.
“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,” the report detailed.
According to the report, the annual summit-level meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin in 2025 was the highest institutionalised dialogue mechanism established under the Strategic Partnership Dialogue between India and Russia.
It highlighted that the 2025 Annual Summit witnessed the signing of major agreements worth billions of dollars across a wide range of 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 shareholders’ 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,” the report mentioned.
Emphasising the growing defence cooperation between India and Russia, the report cited the BrahMos Missile System, Joint design and development of the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft, and the licensed production in India of SU-30 aircraft and T-90 tanks, as flagship examples of the cooperation.
The commissioning of the Russian-built aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya into the Indian Navy off the coast of Goa was another significant milestone reflecting the strong defence cooperation between the two countries.
Highlighting the positive trajectory of India-Russia ties, the report said, “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.”
(IANS)
