Putin promises Modi 'uninterrupted' fuel as India navigates US pressure
Even as Vladimir Putin seeks to show the Ukraine war has not isolated him internationally, the Indian leader has one eye on the EU and America.
President Vladimir Putin has promised to supply “uninterrupted fuel” to India in defiance of American anger at those filling the Kremlin’s coffers by buying Russian oil.
Speaking on a two-day visit to India, where he was warmly received by Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister, Putin said: “Russia is a reliable supplier of oil, gas, coal and everything that is required for the development of India’s energy.
“We are ready to continue uninterrupted shipments of fuel for the fast-growing Indian economy.”
Half of the 50 per cent tariff that President Trump imposed on India in August was a punishment for buying crude oil from Russia, which uses the proceeds to finance its invasion of Ukraine.
Putin decried US sanctions in an interview with India Today as he began his visit on Thursday, saying that Delhi should have the same opportunities to acquire energy as the US.
“The United States itself still buys nuclear fuel from us for its own nuclear power plants. If the US has the right to buy our fuel, why shouldn’t India have the same privilege?” he asked. “This question deserves thorough examination and we stand ready to discuss it, including with President Trump.”
Asked whether the US was arm-twisting India with tariffs, Putin said Modi was “not someone who gives in to pressure” and India was “a major global player, not a British colony”.
As sanctions and restricted access to European markets pushed prices down after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, India’s purchases of Russian crude rose to almost 40 per cent of total oil imports from less than 1 per cent beforehand.
Putin was seen to have come to India to lobby for continued purchases and to demonstrate that Russia is not isolated internationally over Ukraine.
Modi broke protocol to personally meet Putin as he descended from his plane and the two men later took a private ride to the Prime Minister’s residence for dinner.
Observers in Moscow lauded the growing bromance, as the leaders outlined plans to boost economic co-operation, and pledged to achieve dollars 100 billion in bilateral trade by 2030.
Putin spoke of deepening ties, while Modi said: “The world has witnessed many ups and downs in the last eight decades. However, the friendship between India and Russia has remained like a pole star.”
But analysts noted there was no blockbuster arms deal and Modi made no explicit acceptance of the Russian offer of fuel, with major Indian firms having already reduced oil imports to comply with Trump’s demands.
Chietigj Bajpaee, a senior research fellow for south Asia at the Chatham House think tank, said Modi had been cautious at a time when he was seeking to maintain “strategic autonomy” and good relations with all poles of influence.
India wanted a more diversified foreign policy and was wary of burning bridges with the US and other western powers, he added. Delhi was also in the process of negotiating a free trade deal with the European Union.
Modi’s warmth towards Putin was “a degree of strategic signalling” to the US over Trump’s unwelcome tariffs, Bajpaee argued, to show that India “has alternatives and is not going to be beholden to the whims” of the US President.
In the short term there might be mutual advantages for Moscow and Delhi in expanded trade, arms deals and co-operation over nuclear energy. India might also engage with non-sanctioned Russian oil companies.
“In the longer trajectory, however, for Delhi this is a relationship of managed decline,” he said. “India doesn’t want to put all its eggs in one basket.”
Trade agreements and military exercises with the West, as well as jobs and study for Indians, were more important than the limited carrots that Moscow could offer, he suggested, even if Modi were keen to preserve a civil arrangement with Russia.
The Times
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