Russian President Vladimir Putin will pay an official visit to India in December, the Kremlin said Friday, as ties between the countries grow closer and after the United States imposed tariffs on New Dehli over its purchases of Russian oil.
Putin will also meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a regional summit in China on Monday, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters, including AFP, saying the pair would discuss “preparation for the December visit”.
US President Donald Trump has imposed tariffs on Indian goods as punishment for New Delhi’s massive purchases of Russian oil, part of a campaign to pressure Moscow into ending its offensive in Ukraine.
Energy incomes are a key source of revenue for Moscow’s state budget.
Russia is also one of India’s top arms suppliers, and the warm ties between the two countries date back to the Soviet era.
Ukraine’s Western allies have sought to cut Russia’s export earnings since Moscow launched its military assault in February 2022.
But Russia has been able to redirect energy sales away from Europe to countries including India and China, ensuring the multi-billion-dollar flow of funds has continued.
India has argued it imported oil “from Russia because traditional supplies were diverted to Europe after the outbreak of the conflict”.
Putin has significantly curtailed his foreign travel amid the offensive on Ukraine, for which he was slapped with an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant.
India is not a party to the ICC and therefore not obligated to detain Putin.
bur/sbk
© Agence France-Presse
