Indo-Pacific Dynamics in Focus as Putin Paying Key Visit to India
By Sadik Saga, Dhaka, December 4, 2025
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s trip to India (December 4-5) is set to be one of the most closely watched diplomatic developments of the year. His first trip to New Delhi since the Ukraine war began, the visit is expected to reinvigorate the India–Russia strategic partnership at a time of shifting global power balances and heightened volatility across the Indo-Pacific.
The Indo-Pacific region is undergoing rapid geopolitical realignments driven by China’s expanding military presence, territorial disputes in the South China Sea, intensified U.S. naval activity, and the rise of security groupings such as AUKUS and the Quad. In this context, India’s decision to reaffirm ties with Moscow sends a clear signal that New Delhi intends to maintain strategic autonomy rather than align exclusively with any particular power bloc. This approach strengthens India’s diplomatic bargaining space, enabling it to deepen cooperation with the U.S., Japan and Australia while sustaining a crucial defense and energy partnership with Russia.
Putin’s visit is expected to result in fresh defense agreements that could boost India’s deterrence capabilities along its contested borders with China and expand maritime surveillance across the Indian Ocean. A militarily stronger India inevitably influences the broader Indo-Pacific strategic equation, particularly as several Southeast Asian nations increasingly view New Delhi as a stabilizing counterweight to Beijing’s assertiveness.
Enhanced India–Russia cooperation may also revive the long-discussed Chennai–Vladivostok maritime corridor, a route that would significantly shorten shipping time between the two regions and more closely integrate the Russian Far East with the Indo-Pacific. Such connectivity would add a new economic dimension to regional integration—distinct from both Western-led and China-led frameworks.
For the U.S. and its allies, Putin’s engagement with India presents strategic complications. Washington has been working to align Indo-Pacific partners against both China’s regional ambitions and Russia’s actions in Ukraine. India’s continued closeness with Moscow challenges the notion of a unified, Western-driven Indo-Pacific strategy and underscores New Delhi’s insistence on maintaining an independent foreign-policy path.
According to officials in both capitals, the summit will focus on defense cooperation, long-term energy arrangements, nuclear collaboration, and mechanisms to stabilize bilateral trade amid global economic uncertainty. India’s reliance on Russian-origin platforms makes continuity in defense cooperation essential, and discussions are likely to include expanding the S-400 missile system supply as well as exploring advanced fighter jet and submarine technologies.
Energy security will remain a central pillar. Since 2022, India has become one of the largest buyers of discounted Russian crude, and long-term arrangements are expected to be reinforced. Civilian nuclear cooperation is also likely to deepen, helping India diversify its energy mix during a period of fluctuating global supply chains.
Putin’s India visit will be closely watched worldwide as a reaffirmation of a decades-long partnership at a moment when both countries face increased pressure from competing global blocs. While India continues to expand its Indo-Pacific engagements with Western partners, its revitalised ties with Russia ensure that New Delhi retains strategic flexibility in an increasingly multipolar world.
For the Indo-Pacific, the visit highlights an enduring reality: the region’s future will be shaped not by binary alliances but by overlapping and multi-layered partnerships—of which India–Russia relations remain an important and evolving component.