Putin in India Day 2: From talks with PM Modi to Rajghat visit and more; know what's on agenda

PM Modi welcomed Putin at Delhi’s Palam airport on Thursday

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in India on Thursday evening on a two-day state visit, where he was welcomed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This is Putin’s first visit to India in four years and comes against the backdrop of rapid downturn in India-US relations.

PM Modi welcomed Putin at Delhi’s Palam airport with a warm hug as artistes performed traditional dances. From there, the two leaders drove together to Modi’s official residence -- a gesture echoing their ride in Putin’s car in Tianjin nearly three months ago during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit.

"Delighted to welcome my friend, President Putin to India. Looking forward to our interactions later this evening and tomorrow. India-Russia friendship is a time tested one that has greatly benefited our people," the prime minister said on social media.

Later, he hosted a private dinner for Putin in a reciprocal gesture to the hospitality extended to him by the Russian President during his visit to Moscow in July last year.

On the second day of his visit, Putin will hold summit talks with PM Modi, aiming to boost trade with the top buyer of Russia's arms and seaborne oil as Western sanctions squeeze their decades-old ties.

Putin is on his first visit to India in four years at a time when New Delhi is engaged in talks with the US for a trade deal to cut punitive tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump on its goods over India's Russian oil purchases.

Moscow has been India's top arms supplier for decades and has said that it wants to import more Indian goods in an effort to grow trade to $100 billion by 2030 that so far has been skewed in its favour due to New Delhi's energy imports.

Since European countries cut back their reliance on Russian energy after Russia invaded Ukraine nearly four years ago, India has ramped up its purchases of discounted Russian crude.

"India faces a conundrum; by taking steps to strengthen ties with Moscow or Washington, New Delhi risks setting back ties with the other," Michael Kugelman, senior fellow at Washington's Atlantic Council think tank, wrote in Foreign Policy magazine this week.

Modi and Putin are also expected to discuss other topics including labour and civil nuclear energy, with the sides expected to announce new agreements to showcase resilience of their relations, according to a Reuters report.