Explained: India Russia Relations in the New World Order

In ABC Research, Geopolitics
October 13, 2025
Team ABC
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As President Putin readies his 2025 India visit, ABC Live explains how seven decades of India–Russia trust — from Bhilai Steel and BrahMos to Trump’s tariffs and Operation Sindoor — continue to define India’s strategic autonomy in a changing world.

New Delhi (ABC Live): As President Vladimir Putin prepares for his upcoming 2025 visit to India, the world once again turns to a relationship that has outlasted empires, wars, and ideologies.
From Bhilai’s furnaces and BrahMos missiles to Trump’s tariffs, Operation Sindoor, and now nuclear SMRs, the India–Russia partnership remains one of the few constants in a world of shifting power.

It is a friendship born of trust, shaped by pragmatism, and sustained by real-time strategy.

From Historical Trust to Strategic Adaptation

The partnership between India and Russia was not conceived in diplomacy alone — it was forged in steel, sweat, and science.
When a newly independent India needed industrial strength, it was the Soviet Union that helped build the Bhilai Steel Plant (1959) and supported IIT Bombay (1958) through UNESCO.
These institutions became not just symbols of self-reliance but monuments of mutual faith.

That faith turned into a strategic alliance in 1971.
During the Bangladesh Liberation War, as the U.S. deployed its Seventh Fleet to the Bay of Bengal, the Soviet Pacific Fleet sailed to counter it.
That gesture gave India diplomatic confidence and military space — and permanently etched Russia into India’s national memory.

Even after the Soviet Union’s collapse, that bond endured.
Through the 1993 Treaty of Friendship, the 2000 Strategic Partnership, and its 2010 upgrade to a “Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership”, both nations ensured that their friendship matured with time rather than memory.

The Trump Tariff Era — When Economics Forced Realignment

By 2018, the global economy entered a new kind of turbulence.
The Trump Tariff era disrupted trade flows and forced countries to rethink dependencies.
When Washington revoked GSP benefits and raised tariffs, Indian exporters suffered immediate losses.
Meanwhile, Western sanctions on Russia after 2022 created supply gaps that India could fill.

New Delhi acted quickly. It began importing discounted Russian crude, stabilising domestic inflation and ensuring energy security at scale.
By 2024, bilateral trade had surged to nearly $70 billion, and Russia’s share in India’s oil imports had crossed 35%.

In effect, what began as a response to tariffs evolved into a new economic geometry of opportunity, where sentiment met strategy.

Economic Transformation — From Energy to Balance

Energy remains the backbone of the new India–Russia equation.
India’s refineries process Russian crude into global-grade petroleum products, while Russia, facing sanctions, finds in India a stable and non-hostile market.

However, this trade has created rupee surpluses for Moscow, prompting diversification.
Both nations are now expanding cooperation in pharmaceuticals, fertilisers, agro-machinery, IT services, and — increasingly — clean energy.

Here, a new frontier is emerging: civil nuclear technology.
Rosatom and India’s Department of Atomic Energy are exploring collaboration on Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) — compact, scalable nuclear units designed for industrial use and remote regions.
SMRs could complement India’s Net-Zero 2070 roadmap by offering safe, efficient baseload power for green hydrogen and desalination projects.
This is where the partnership moves from the oil barrel to the atomic scale — from fossil security to future energy sovereignty.

Defence and Technology — From Hardware to Co-creation

Defence continues to anchor trust between the two nations.
For decades, Russian technology has been central to India’s military strength — from MiG fighters to T-series tanks.
Now, however, the focus is shifting from hardware supply to co-development.

The AK-203 rifle factory in Amethi, the BrahMos missile, and the S-400 Triumf air-defence systems represent this new model.
They combine Russian experience with Indian execution, building an ecosystem of shared innovation that keeps both militaries resilient.

The next phase of collaboration includes research into AI-assisted battlefield systems, hypersonic propulsion, and dual-use nuclear safety technologies for future reactor designs — reflecting how the partnership now merges security and science.

From Bhilai to BrahMos — The Indigenous Arc

The industrial discipline learned in Bhilai laid the foundation for today’s technological mastery.
That same spirit powers BrahMos, a supersonic cruise missile that merges Russian propulsion with Indian precision.

During Operation Sindoor (2025), India’s retaliatory strikes following the Pahalgam attack, open-source defence observers noted BrahMos’ deployment through India’s Integrated Battlefield Management System (IBMS) — proof that a joint technology born in peace had matured into operational excellence.

Meanwhile, India’s Integrated Air Command and Control System (IACCS) connects S-400, Akash, and MR-SAM batteries, ensuring multi-layered protection against aerial and drone threats.
Such systems are not mere weapons — they are statements of sovereignty built through shared science.

People, Training, and Friendship in the DNA

What makes this partnership unique is the human element.
Generations of Indian officers have trained in Russian academies, while Russian scientists have mentored Indian engineers.
In the 1980s, Raj Kapoor’s films made Moscow fall in love with India; today, Indian doctors and students make Russia part of their lives.

This people-to-people link is emotional infrastructure — unseen but unbreakable.
It is why, even as global alignments shift, India–Russia friendship feels inherited, not negotiated.

Diplomacy — Balancing Many Alliances

India’s foreign policy today is about geometry, not ideology.
It cooperates with the U.S., Japan, and Australia through the Quad, while leading BRICS and SCO with Russia and China.
During the Ukraine war, India neither condemned nor condoned — it chose constructive neutrality, urging peace while protecting national interest.

Such a balance is rare. It shows that strategic independence is not about isolation but about intelligent choice.

Shared Vision for Global Reform

India and Russia share an old but unfinished ambition: a multipolar world.
Both support reforms of the UN Security Council, advocate sovereign equality, and promote South–South cooperation in technology and finance.
India’s 2023 G20 theme — “One Earth, One Family, One Future” — echoed Moscow’s call for inclusive global governance.

Russia–China and India’s Eurasian Route

While Russia deepens trade with China, India builds its own Eurasian pathway through the International North–South Transport Corridor (INSTC) — connecting Mumbai, Chabahar, and St. Petersburg.
This corridor cuts freight time by 40% and costs by 30%, ensuring that India can reach European markets without strategic dependence on China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

Thus, India complements Russia’s eastward pivot with its own westward reach — balancing the continental chessboard.

India–U.S. Convergence without Compromise

India’s growing ties with Washington, especially in frontier technologies like semiconductors and AI, coexist with deep cooperation with Moscow in defence and energy.
The U.S. offers innovation; Russia offers endurance.
Together, they provide India options that protect its most valuable asset — autonomy.

Payments and Digital Finance — Experiments in Sovereignty

Economic resilience is also financial sovereignty.
India and Russia are testing RuPay–Mir card integration and exploring UPI–FPS digital settlements.
These systems aim to bypass dollar dependence and enable faster local-currency trade.
The shift reflects a larger geopolitical truth — control of payment rails is now as strategic as control of pipelines.

Ukraine War — Neutrality with Action

India’s response to the Ukraine conflict demonstrated maturity.
It abstained from UN condemnations, yet sent humanitarian aid and evacuated over twenty thousand citizens under Operation Ganga.
Prime Minister Modi’s statement — “This is not an era of war” — became the diplomatic headline of 2023 and 2024, cited by leaders from Europe to the UN.
India managed to remain both empathetic and effective — a voice of balance in a divided world.

Putin’s 2025 Visit — Continuity under Pressure

President Putin’s expected December 2025 visit is likely to reaffirm this long arc of cooperation.
The agenda includes defence maintenance, nuclear SMR collaboration, Arctic energy ventures, and digital payment architecture under BRICS.
For both sides, the message is clear: despite changing alliances, this partnership remains anchored in reliability and renewal.

The Road Ahead — Turning Ambiguity into Advantage

India and Russia are now investing in future resilience rather than memories.

Energy and SMRs: expanding collaboration on small modular reactors, Arctic LNG, and clean hydrogen integration.
FinTech and Payments: building cross-border systems beyond SWIFT.
Defence Innovation: joint AI, space, and cyber-security research hubs.
Agro-Climate Security: cooperation on bio-fertilisers and soil-carbon projects.
Knowledge Diplomacy: joint academic chairs, media fellowships, and think-tank partnerships.

These initiatives mark a shift from transactional to transformational — from legacy to longevity.

Editorial Conclusion — Continuity in Flux

From Bhilai Steel to BrahMos, from 1971’s solidarity to Trump’s tariffs, and from crude oil to compact nuclear SMRs, the India–Russia partnership has shown a rare quality in geopolitics — the ability to adapt without surrendering identity.

It endures because trust still matters — but in today’s world, trust alone gives only an edge.
Power now belongs to nations that act fast, innovate faster, and respond in real time.
Emotions create goodwill; execution creates impact.

India and Russia have learned to combine both sentiment with speed, memory with motion, and faith with flexibility.
That is why, even in a world driven by algorithms and alliances, this partnership still breathes like a living organism — evolving, adjusting, and acting.

In the new world order, emotions create trust — but only timely action sustains power.
Nations that can feel deeply and act swiftly will shape the century.