Russia has been a longstanding and time-tested partner of India. Since the signing of the “Declaration on the India-Russia Strategic Partnership” in October 2000, India-Russia ties have evolved significantly, touching political, security, defence, trade and economy, science and technology, culture, and people-to-people cooperation.
In December 2010, during the Russian President’s visit to India, this partnership was elevated to the level of a “Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership.” Under this Partnership, several institutionalized dialogue mechanisms operate at both political and official levels to ensure regular interaction and follow-up on cooperation activities.
Institutionalized Dialogue Mechanisms
- India-Russia Annual Summit
- 2+2 dialogue mechanism comprising the foreign and defence ministers of both countries.
- India-Russia strategic economic dialogue: To identify greater synergy in trade and investment
- India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military and Military-Technical Cooperation
- headed by the defence ministers of the two countries.
- India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC).
- led by India’s External Affairs Minister (EAM) and Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister (DPM)
Bilateral Trade and Commerce
Bilateral trade has grown rapidly and reached a record $68.7 billion in FY 2024-25, with Indian exports at $4.9 billion (mainly pharmaceuticals, chemicals, iron & steel, and marine products) and imports from Russia at $63.8 billion (primarily crude oil and petroleum products, sunflower oil, fertilizers, coking coal, and precious stones/metals). Both sides have set a target of $100 billion in annual bilateral trade by 2030.
Bilateral trade in services has remained stable at around $1.021 billion for the year 2021.
Bilateral investments between the two countries achieved the goal of $30 billion and the target has been revised to $50 billion by 2025. The major bilateral investments by Russia in India are in the oil and gas, petrochemicals, banking, railways and steel sectors, while Indian investments in Russia are mainly in oil and gas and pharmaceuticals sectors.
Defence Cooperation
Defence is one of the most important parts of the strong friendship and strategic partnership between India and Russia. The longstanding and wide-ranging military technical cooperation between the two countries has evolved from a buyer-seller framework to one involving joint research, development and production of advanced defense technologies and systems.
Both countries follow a special 10-year agreement that guides all their military and defence technology cooperation. The military-technical cooperation agreement for 2021–2031 inked on 6 December 2021 in New Delhi, focuses on joint research, development, production, and after-sales support of weapons and military equipment.
Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh visited Russia in December 2024 and Co-Chaired the 21st IRIGC – M&MTC meeting where he commissioned INS Tushil. Both INS Tushil and INS Tamal, he latest stealth multi-role frigate, have been constructed in Russia and commissioned in Kaliningrad. The 5th Meeting of IRIGC-M&MTC took place in New Delhi on October 28-29 2025.
- Bilateral Exercise- Indra: 14th edition INDRA-2025 held in Bikaner, Rajasthan from 6-15 October, 2025.
- Multilateral exercise led by Russia- Zapad: Zapad-2025 military exercise at Nizhny Novgorod in Russia.
Cooperation in Defence Manufacturing
| Weapon Systems | Description |
| BrahMos Missile | BrahMos Cruise Missile system jointly developed by India’s DRDO and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyeniya (NPOM), which remains a flagship of India–Russia military-technical collaboration in missile technology |
| Sukhoi Su-30MKI | Licensed production of the multi-role fighter aircraft by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in India. |
| T-90 Tanks | Licensed production of the T-90S Bhishma main battle tanks in India. |
| S-400 Triumf | Procurement of the advanced long-range surface-to-air missile defense system (SAM) by India. This is not jointly produced but procured |
| INS Vikramaditya | Refurbishment and transfer of the former Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov to the Indian Navy. A majority of India’s conventional and nuclear-powered submarines are of Russian origin. |
| AK-203 Assault Rifles | Production by the Indo-Russia Rifles Private Limited (IRRPL) joint venture in Korwa, India, under the “Make in India” initiative. |