Russian President Vladimir Putin’s two-day visit to India for the 23rd India-Russia Annual Summit underscored a resilient, pragmatic, and multifaceted relationship between the two countries amidst significant global geopolitical shifts. The visit, which is Putin’s first to India since Russia’s ‘invasion’ of Ukraine, has been considered as a critical diplomatic engagement for both nations, one which aims to reinforce traditional ties between New Delhi and Moscow, particularly in areas like energy and defence, at the same time also allowing India to assert her strategic autonomy in a challenging international environment. Putin’s visit took place as India has been navigating a complex balancing act between its historical “all-weather friend” Russia and its strengthening ties with the Western powers, more particularly with Donald Trump’s US. It is important to note that India’s continued engagement with Russia has drawn criticism, particularly amid ongoing Western sanctions on Russia and threats of secondary sanctions, more so from the Donald Trump regime of the US. For Putin, on the other hand, the visit has been seen as one which has served to signal to the Western bloc that Russia is, under no circumstances, a globally isolated nation and that it can maintain important strategic friendships. For India, the India-Russia Annual Summit has been seen as an exercise in “multi-alignment”, a policy of engaging with all major powers without letting any single nation dictate its foreign policy choices on New Delhi. India has also effectively utilised Putin’s visit to protect her own economic and strategic interests on her own terms. Analysing academically as well as from the diplomatic angle, the summit has yielded several key takeaways and agreements. These include an economic cooperation programme until 2030, which aims to boost annual India-Russia trade, which had reached a record $68.7 billion in 2024-25. This has happened despite the fact that the bilateral trade is heavily tilted in favour of Russia due to India’s substantial crude oil imports. But the positive aspect is that Putin has emphasized Moscow’s keenness to ensure uninterrupted energy supplies, including oil, natural gas, coal, and civil nuclear energy. The two sides also explored new avenues, including labour mobility, with an agreement for the possible recruitment of Indian professionals in the Russian market, and the crucial Reciprocal Exchange of Logistics Agreement (RELOS). The latter is expected to streamline joint India-Russia military drills and humanitarian efforts. India also announced a free 30-day e-tourist visa facility for Russian citizens to boost people-to-people ties and tourism. Modi and Putin also reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening multilateral institutions like BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), seeing them as platforms for global influence. Defence ties, however, remain a cornerstone, with discussions covering existing cooperation, such as the S-400 air defence systems deal, and potential future collaboration, including the joint development of fighter jets and S-500 air defence systems. India’s continued reliance on Russian military hardware (around 60% of its inventory is of Russian origin) makes this cooperation vital for national security.