India, Russia intensify consultations ahead of Putin’s Delhi visit

Ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to New Delhi, expected by the year-end, India and Russia intensified top-level consultations on Tuesday (November 18, 2025).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Nikolai Patrushev, the Chairman of the Maritime Board of Russia, and discussed the annual summit to be held with Mr. Putin in December. In Moscow, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met with President Putin on the sidelines of the 24^th meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

“The parties discussed various issues of Russia-India cooperation, particularly in the maritime sector. The two sides emphasized their mutual interest in deepening interaction between Russia and India to strengthen their maritime capabilities,” said a statement from the Russian Embassy in New Delhi.

Mr. Patrushev, who is also the aide to Mr. Putin, led the Russian team at the Russia-India consultations on maritime cooperation in New Delhi on November 17. He met with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval who visited Moscow in the first week of August and met President Putin.

In his remarks at the SCO meeting, Mr. Jaishankar highlighted the importance of “diversification” in the background of “supply side risk” that has increased globally in the recent months.

The Minister reiterated India’s right to fight against terror attacks. “We must never forget that the SCO was founded to combat the three evils of terrorism, separatism and extremism. These threats have become even more serious in the years that have passed. It is imperative for the world display zero tolerance towards terrorism,” said Mr. Jaishankar, arguing that there should be “no whitewashing” of terrorism.