Washington: India’s decision to “roll out the red carpet for President Vladimir Putin” during the New Delhi summit this week reflects a calibrated effort to balance ties with Moscow and Washington, former White House South Asia official Lisa Curtis said, noting that the visit came at a moment of strain in US–India relations over trade tariffs and perceived policy drift.

Curtis, now Senior Fellow and Director of the Indo-Pacific Security Program at the Centre for a New American Security (CNAS), said the agreements announced in New Delhi demonstrated continuity in India’s long-standing defence and economic cooperation with Russia.

“They agreed to increase trade to USD100 billion by 2030,” she said, while adding that “US–India trade… they’ve pledged to increase to 500 billion by 2030. So

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