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Russian President Vladimir Putin visited New Delhi from 4-5 December 2025 for the 23rd India-Russia Bilateral Summit. The optics were striking amid cold India-US relations: Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke protocol by personally receiving Putin at the airport without prior notice. At the summit, both sides repeated the familiar narrative of a “time-tested friendship” and a “special and privileged strategic partnership.” This served India well for decades, but today it is largely a comforting fiction—one that obscures how decisively Russia’s strategic orientation has shifted, perhaps irreversibly, toward China.
Majority in India still speaks of Russia through the warm haze of the past. The Soviet vetoes at the UN, the diplomatic solidarity during the 1971 war, the supply of advanced defence platforms during India’s most vulnerable decades; these memories are deeply embedded in India’s str...
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