The India-Russia summit for which Vladimir Putin made his first visit to India since the outbreak of the Ukraine-Russia military conflict, went beyond the traditional focus on long-standing defence and strategic partnership to highlight economic and trade-related relations.

The visit of Russian President is also to be seen in the backdrop of Western powers- particularly the US- pushing India to cut down on its oil import from Russia on the plea that it would discourage Russia from keeping up the Ukraine conflict.

Prime Minister Modi’s observation that ‘elevating our economic cooperation with Russia to new heights is a shared priority’ was in a way India’s counter to the ‘tariff pressure’ put on this country by US President Donald Trump.

At a media interaction after his talks with Putin,

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