What to Know About Putin’s Visit to India as Oil Trade Dries Up

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia arrives in New Delhi on Thursday for an annual summit that marks his country’s partnership with India. He and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are expected to discuss their defense dealings and announce agreements to ease trade and the flow of workers from India to Russia.
Looming over the bilateral discussions will be a third country whose actions are testing the strength of that relationship: the United States.
The timing is especially fraught for India, which has been searching for a way to resolve its economic tangle with the Trump administration. Mr. Trump has accused India of financing Russia’s war on Ukraine by buying its oil, and last month, India’s biggest oil companies stopped buying Russian crude almost entirely after U.S. sanctions on Russian oil giants threatened the companies that do business with them.
The bilateral summit signals to the world that India and Russia are committed to a relationship that dates back to the Soviet era. For Mr. Putin, it’s an opportunity to show the world that Russia has a partner of global significance.
But Mr. Modi, who shares a warm personal bond with Mr. Putin, will have to walk a tightrope between managing India’s relationship with Russia, its biggest arms supplier, while satisfying the demands of the United States, its biggest trading partner — all while pursuing his country’s self-interest.
What’s on the agenda?
Mr. Putin will arrive in New Delhi on Thursday for the 23rd India-Russia summit. The following day, he and Mr. Modi will discuss ways to strengthen trade and economic ties.
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