8/10/2019 India Looks to Putin’s Visit to Lift Sagging Ties - The Hindu

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India looks to Putin’s visit to lift sagging ties

Suhasini Haidar

India and Russia will look to trade to boost the sagging ties between the two countries when Russian President

 Vladimir Putin arrives here for a brief visit this week. Mr. Putin will land on December 10 and fly out within 24 hoursthe next day.

Mr. Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are likely to unveil two “vision documents” on strategic, nuclear andeconomic issues, and could possibly make a joint appearance at the World Diamond Congress being held here onDecember 11 and 12.

Mr. Putin’s visit is part of the annual bilateral summits instituted by him during his earlier term as President in 2000However, he will not address a joint session of Parliament as he did that year. Sources said though India had invitedhim to deliver the speech, his “tight schedule” will not permit him to do so.

No Kudankulam visit

Mr. Putin will not visit the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, though Mr. Modi invited him when they met at theBRICS summit in Brazil in July.

Since July, the relationship between the two countries has been strained over India’s growing defence procurementfrom the U.S. even as Russia struggles with sanctions from the West. India is unhappy with Russia’s new defencecooperation agreement with Pakistan, which marks a significant shift from the past. In November, Russian DefenceMinister Sergei Shoigu signed the agreement during a first-ever visit to Pakistan, and a Russian delegation took part fthe first time in the Karachi Defence expo, which was held last week.

 While officials refused to comment on the impact of these on Mr. Putin’s visit, External Affairs Ministry spokespersonSyed Akbaruddin called it “obviously significant,” adding “India has noted that Russia, like other countries, has choseto improve defence cooperation with our neighbour,” thereby marking a shift from the “special” relationship withIndia. At a time when Mr. Putin is being isolated by the U.S. and its allies over operations in Ukraine, India’s surpriseinvitation to U.S. President Barack Obama to be the chief guest at the Republic Day parade in January has not goneunnoticed in Moscow.

Free trade pact

In the run-up to this visit, Mr. Putin’s point person for India and Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin visited Delhito discuss ways of boosting bilateral trade. With just $10 billion in bilateral trade in 2013, India and Russia are notexpected to meet their target of $15 billion by 2015, but both sides are talking about a free trade agreement with theCustoms Union of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus as well as join energy exploration in Russian gas fields.

Sources said the two sides were likely to announce a big partnership between Russian companies that were the biggesexporters of rough-cut diamonds and Indian diamond companies, the largest importers.

India and Russia are like to sign nearly 15 agreements in defence, nuclear energy, customs, banking and energy.

Traditional relations under strain over Russia-Pakistan, India-U.S. bonhomie