Putin just left Delhi, and honestly, the whole two days felt less like a cold diplomatic visit and more like your oldest friend flying in for a quick but intense catch-up.
He landed Thursday evening. Modi broke every rule in the book and went straight to the airport himself. No red carpet delegation, no junior minister with a bouquet. Just Modi waiting on the tarmac, arms wide open, pulling Putin into one of those big, proper hugs that last a couple of extra seconds. They jumped into a white Fortuner (Putin left his own bullet-proof limo in the hangar) and drove off chatting like they were heading to a late-night chai stall instead of 7 Lok Kalyan Marg.
That night it was just the two of them over dinner at Modi’s place: kebabs, some Russian salads, a lot of black tea, and zero aides hovering. They talked about everything: Ukraine, oil prices, American tariffs, the Arctic, missiles, reactors, even Gandhi. No cameras, no leaks, just two guys who’ve known each other twenty-five years sorting the world out over food.
Friday morning was the full ceremonial drama. 21-gun salute at Rashtrapati Bhavan, horses, bands, the works. Putin stood ramrod straight while they played the Russian anthem, then quietly laid a wreath at Rajghat and stood there for a long minute with his head bowed. He later told reporters Gandhi’s ideas still matter to him, which is not something you hear from the Kremlin every day.
The real work happened over lunch at Hyderabad House. They promised to push trade from today’s $65 billion to $100 billion way before 2030, mostly because India keeps buying Russian oil no matter what the West says. They signed stuff on building more nuclear plants, making weapons together, shipping goods through the Arctic, and even mining rare minerals for batteries. On Ukraine, Modi repeated his usual line: “This is not an era of war, talk to each other.” Putin nodded, didn’t argue, didn’t promise anything dramatic, but the fact they can still sit across a table and talk like this is, in today’s world, a pretty big deal.
Evening was the fancy state dinner at the President’s palace. Chandeliers, sarees, medals, the whole Bollywood-meets-Moscow vibe. President Murmu gave a warm speech about “civilisational friendship, Putin replied in Russian (and got translated) saying he always feels at home in India because people here are “sincere and warm-hearted.” Someone slipped in a line of Hindi poetry, someone else played a violin version of “Kal Ho Naa Ho,” and for a few hours the room forgot about sanctions and battlefields.
Then, just like that, it was over. A quick goodbye on the tarmac, another hug with Jaishankar, and Putin’s plane took off into the night.
In the end, nothing earth-shattering was announced, no big new alliance against anyone. Just two countries quietly saying to each other (and to the rest of the world): we’ve got each other’s backs, we always have, and we’re not apologising for it.
And with that, he was gone. Back to Moscow, back to winter, back to everything waiting for him there. But for 27 hours, Delhi felt a little like an old friendship refusing to fade, no matter how crazy the world gets.
Sources:
- MEA India official release (itinerary + joint statements)
- The Hindu live blog (Dec 4–5)
- India Today live updates + videos
- Reuters & Al Jazeera (context + trade/Ukraine angles)
- NDTV & ANI clips (ceremonies, hugs, Rajghat)
X posts: @narendramodi, @ANI, @RusEmbIndi
