Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives in India this week.

During his December 4–5 visit, he will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the 23rd India–Russia annual summit, his first trip to India since the Ukraine war began in February 2022. Putin previously visited India in December 2021, just a few months before the outbreak of the Ukraine war.

According to the Ministry of External Affairs, the visit will allow both sides to "review progress in bilateral relations, set the vision for strengthening the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership and exchange views on regional and global issues."

"This visit is of great importance, providing an opportunity to comprehensively discuss the extensive agenda of Russian–Indian relations as a particularly privileged strategic partnership," the Kremlin said in a statement.

That partnership, which began in the decades after Independence, flourished during the Cold War, survived the collapse of the Soviet Union and a turbulent 1990s, gained renewed strength in the 2000s and continues to hold in the aftermath of the Ukraine invasion.

Let's take a closer look.

Nehru and the early years

From the earliest days of Independence, India insisted on strategic autonomy — not aligning with either Cold War camp. However, as Washington drew closer to Islamabad, the Soviet Union opened its doors to New Delhi.

Jawaharlal Nehru's 1955 and 1961 visits to the USSR were building blocks of the relationship. The Soviets backed India's industrialisation drive at a time when few others were willing to invest political capital in India's development.

Steel plants, heavy machinery, technical institutions and early scientific cooperation followed. Soviet military equipment, particularly MiG aircraft, gradually became the backbone of India's defence modernisation.

Indira and treaty that changed everything

The Indo–Soviet Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation signed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1971 brought the relationship into a new stratosphere.

As India and Pakistan clashed over East Pakistan — soon to become Bangladesh — global alignments hardened. The Nixon administration tilted sharply towards Pakistan, deploying the Seventh Fleet's Task Force 74 to the Bay of Bengal. Britain moved the HMS Eagle into the region. India's recognition of Bangladesh raised the stakes even further.