Since the Cold War, when the Kremlin became a significant arms supplier to Russia, New Delhi and Russia have remained near ties.
However, Russia’s arms supply has been stretched by Ukraine, which has prompted India to look for alternative sources of weapons, including building its own defense market.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Russia’s communicate of American arms exports has decreased significantly in recent years.
India has also grown to be a significant buyer of Russian crude, giving Russia a much-needed trade market after its conventional European buyers stopped buying it.
That has significantly altered their economic relations, with India sapping itself billions of dollars and bolstering Moscow’s war fund.
According to commodity tracking data compiled by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, India’s month-on-month imports of Russian crude “increased by 8 % in May, to the highest levels since July 2023.”
However, as a result of this, India’s trade deficit increased by a small over US$ 57 billion in the previous fiscal year, with Russia accounting for the difference.
Modi will go from Russia to Vienna for his first visit to the country’s capital since Indira Gandhi in 1983.