President Vladimir Putin arrived in New Delhi for his first state visit to India since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, showcasing warming ties that have angered the U.S. and led to hefty trade tariffs.

Putin was welcomed at the airport by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who embraced the Russian leader after he disembarked from his plane.

The two leaders are scheduled to meet over a private dinner later in the evening as India rolls out the red carpet for the Russian president, who has defied attempts by many leading Western democracies to cast him as an international pariah. The stakes are high for Modi, who is seeking to assert India’s strategic autonomy after U.S. President Donald Trump slapped tariffs of 50% on the nation’s goods to punish New Delhi for its close ties with Russia.

Putin is expected to showcase those ties, particularly in oil and defense, during his two-day visit to New Delhi. Ahead of the trip, officials worked to finalize a deal for India to pay about $2 billion to lease a nuclear-powered submarine from Russia, Bloomberg News reported earlier Thursday, following more than a decade of talks.

“For India, this is an opportunity to underline that despite pressure from the U.S. President Donald Trump administration, Prime Minister Modi can hold his own,” Harsh Pant, professor of international relations at King’s College, London, said.

“It shows Modi can craft a foreign policy of India based on India’s requirements, which is to have a stable and functional relationship with Russia,” he said.

Modi’s government is trying to finalize a trade deal with the U.S., India’s biggest export market. Trump said last month his government was close to a trade agreement, signaling a possible thaw with India.

Russia and India have framed the visit around trade, though energy and defense will likely dominate. India and Russia have been among each other’s top five trading partners since 2022, when India stepped up its purchases of Russian oil.

Posters of Putin were on display at major intersections in New Delhi as Russian and Indian flags flew along main streets. The two countries share long and warm relations that stretch back to the Soviet Union and Cold War.

A ceremonial welcome is planned for Putin on Friday morning, before he holds a bilateral meeting with Modi. Both leaders are then expected to address Indian and Russian executives at a business forum later Friday to encourage them to boost trade and investment.

India is seeking to gain more access to the Russian market for its exporters hit by U.S. tariffs, with a likely agreement announced on the shipment of marine products and agricultural goods, a New Delhi official said in a background briefing this week. The two countries are also expected to finalize a mobility agreement that will allow Indian professionals to work in Russia, the official said.

Ahead of the visit, envoys to India from Germany, France and Britain criticized Putin in a joint editorial for his war on Ukraine. Modi, meanwhile, has demonstrated his close ties to Putin, hugging him when they met about three months ago at a regional security and economic summit in China.

“The visit will be heavy in optics,” said Rajorshi Roy, of Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, a government-backed think tank based in New Delhi. The discussions will likely focus on technology, economics and keeping their partnership strong, he said.

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—With assistance from Shruti Srivastava.

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