Why Putin is in India visiting Modi | Global News Podcast

Welcome to the Global News podcast on. YouTube where we take a deeper look at. one of the stories making the headlines. Hello, I'm Janette Jalil and today we're. looking at why the visit of the Russian. president to India and his talks with. its prime minister matter so much. Well, I'm joined on the line from Delhi by our. correspondent Deina Gupta. And Deina, India and Russia have long been close. allies going back to Soviet times. >> Absolutely. We're talking about a. time-tested relationship uh and it goes.

all the way back to the 60s because uh. India has seen Russia come to its aid. especially when it fought wars with its. neighbors China and Pakistan through the. 60s the 70s and that's when it got uh. military hardware and equipment from. Russia. In fact, when India faced. nuclear sanctions for nuclear test that. it carried out in the late '9s, it was. Russia that supported India and that's. why this is a relationship that is based. on trust. Uh lot of Indian films in fact.

have seen release in Russia. So there's. been a cultural tie over there. There. have been people-to-people movement and. in this part of the world, Russia is. seen as a friend and India's current. prime minister Narendra Modi when he's. met Russian President Vladmir Putin in. previous occasions. Uh there's been a. very warm body language between the two. leaders. They've smiled, they've hugged. each other. In fact, even today when uh. Mr. Putin landed in India, he was there. to receive him personally. They shook.

hands, they hugged and even shared a car. ride together uh and they will be having. an informal dinner together uh before. the bilateral meet tomorrow. So this. goes on to show the extent to which this. relationship is reciprocated from both. sides. uh it has as I said stood the. test of time and also western sanctions. western pressure and even as uh Russia. faces an international isolation from. the west it's looking eastwards to. countries like India to find those.

partners in this time. >> and you talked there about how Russia is. trying to show the west that it's not. isolated diplomatically why else does. this visit to India matter for Vladimir. Putin. >> so there are three important points here. that one needs to consider. Let's take. them one by one. First is strategically. India is important because uh Russia has. been selling military hardware here. It's among India's largest military. suppliers. So we're talking fighter.

jets, defense systems and these are. equipment that it has sold for decades. So it India relies heavily on trying to. uh boost its defense forces or even try. and find an upgrade for these um defense. equipment. it has to rely on Russia. So. strategically it's quite important for. India security and Mr. Putin knows that. Uh the second bit is economically. Now. after the war began in Ukraine, Russia. has been selling more and more. discounted crude to India. Uh it is now.

almost 40% of total import that India. pays for and we're talking about. billions of dollars here for its oil. India says it needs this soil for its. own energy security while the west has. said that it is helping Russia fund its. war effort. So the argument stands. there. But for Mr. Putin it's also about. ensuring that those dollars keep coming. in. The third bit is diplomatic which we. uh are looking at at a time when Russia.

is facing that diplomatic isolation. It's looking at India and China as its. key partners. It has uh been uh. promoting India also through the role of. [music] bricks which is a consortium of. Brazil, Russia, India, China and South. Africa which has added new members from. the Middle East to try and have that. counterweight to uh the western blocks. uh for example NATO the North Atlantic. Treaty Organization. So India plays an. important part for Russia to come and uh.

and to try and build on these anti-West. alliance as many experts call it. So. diplomatically, Mr. Putin is looking at. India as an ally in this time and. >> and all these issues mattered to. Narendra Emodio as well. But he's also. concerned about these warming ties. between Russia and China because. historically India has seen Russia as a. counterweight to the growing might of. China. >> Yes. because in this region uh we call. it a a strategy of a necklace of pearl.

which India is trying to build around. its neighbors. So you're talking about. uh Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan. These are India's neighbors. and we've seen um in all these nations. there has been quite a bit of a. diplomatic upheaval and democratic. upheaval one would say it as well and. economic uh crisis in their own right in. different ways in these nations where. China has come in and supported uh most. of the governments there they've had a.

trade relationship that has increased so. India feels that it's being surrounded. by China it wants to counteract on that. uh this particular string of pearls. which it calls around its region and. Russia is an important part for India. over there. But we've seen this also. equation change. Now in 2020 um there. was India and China the the tensions. were at an all-time high. There were. deploy there was also a skirmish at the. border that both countries shared and.

there were soldiers who were killed in. 2020 and that's where India had started. boycotting Chinese goods. It had also. put sanctions on companies like Tik Tok. which still stays banned in India. So. after that uh just earlier this year. India met uh Indian Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi was at the Shanghai. Cooperation Organization summit in. Shangghai. His first visit to the. country after those 2020 clashes at the. border. He met president Xi Jinping. there and also present in at the same.

forum was Russia's president Vladimir. Putin and three leaders over there made. sure that they were smiling for the. cameras. They had a brief discussion uh. at that podium and they were seen. walking together. So intentionally India. was sending a signal that it's ready to. move on. It can't choose its neighbor. but it can choose how to work with them. and it's hoping for that reciprocacity. from China with Russia's support. And. right now, Russia has a labor shortage. India has the world's largest workforce.

So the two countries could mutually. benefit each other with India looking to. sell many more goods to to Russia in. exchange for the Russian oil. >> Absolutely. because this is what is. crucial for India's uh uh government. here because the youth employment is uh. going up in India and what they're. looking at is a large skill pool and a. talent pool one could say of engineers. of doctors um of technology workers who. want to uh explore better options for.

work and Russia seems to be a. destination which is opening up for. them. Russia has said they need nearly. half a million workforce to come in. because most of their uh young men. particularly are now engaged in military. service uh with uh the Ukraine conflict. still going on. So today in the business. forum where the meetings were being. organized we did hear uh how businesses. were trying to pitch the idea be it from. the education sector or agriculture. sector or AI asking for young Indian. workers to come and work with them and.

it could be possible in the coming days. there could be this people-to-people. exchange uh easier processes for that uh. that Indian workers could see whether. there would be uh what to the to the. scale of what we see of Indian workers. going to countries like the US or the. UK, one will have to see. >> And another factor for Mr. Modi is US. pressure, notably from the Trump. administration because for the past few. years, the West has been turning a blind. eye, if you like, to India's purchases.

of discounted Russian oil. But Mr. Trump. has come in and he's saying that India. is helping Russia to maintain its war. chest and he slapped really punishing. tariffs up to 50% on Indian goods. That's where India needs to find a. balancing act. Now what India has been. saying is that it supports peaceful. resolution uh to the conflict in Ukraine. and it has also said the Russian crude. it's purchasing which has gone up from. 2% before the war started to 40% now. Uh.

it says that it is for its own energy. security. It's got the world's most uh. populous nation about a billion plus. people and it needs to look at uh. keeping its inflation low fuel prices. low here and that's where it would go to. the best deal in the market which is the. discounted Russian crude oil. Um now. where it wants to have that balance with. the US is it's saying that what just. just earlier uh we've seen that the US. has sanctioned two of Russia's largest.

oil refineries which is Rosenft and Luke. oil and what they have said is that. Indian oil refineries will not buy from. these sanctioned Russian oil refineries. Will that make a difference uh to the. amount of Russian crude coming in India? Will that make us happy? Well, experts. are divided on that here in India. because they believe India could easily. go to other non-sanctioned Russian. entities or they could diversify, go. back to their Middle East suppliers. India says it's looking out for its own. interest. It has to come or it is coming.

at the cost of those 50% tariffs that. you talked about which was slapped on. India way back in August. Um the US said. it's not happy that India is continues. to buy this crude and slabbed an. additional 25% tariff totaling to 50%. and businesses here particularly. exporters are uh in caught in a tight. spot because the US continues to be the. largest market for them and they want a. middle path. Indian diplomats are. currently negotiating a bilateral trade.

deal with the US counterpart. So this. visit of Mr. Putin is also sending a. signal that uh India is not getting. pressured uh with these uh with these. kind of tactics. India is standing firm. It wants its relationship with Russia to. continue. At the same time, it wants the. US to realize they are also important. So, it's a tough balancing act either. way you look at it. >> Deina, thank you. Deina Gupta in Delhi. And if you'd like to hear more.

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