Business & Economics
India Floats Su-57 & S-500 Procurements as Putin Lands for 2025 Delhi Summit
On the eve of Vladimir Putin’s 4-5 Dec 2025 visit, New Delhi formally put next-generation Su-57 fighters and the S-500 air-defence system on the negotiating table, signalling a fresh upswing in Russian arms buys after several years of decline.
Focusing Facts
- Putin’s trip, the 23rd annual summit and his first to India since the Ukraine war, begins at 16:30 IST on 4 Dec 2025 with a private Modi dinner and ends 5 Dec around 21:30.
- Russia has delivered 3 of the 5 S-400 batteries from the 2018 USD 5 billion deal; Moscow now pledges the remaining two by FY 2026-27.
- India currently operates 200+ Russian-made combat jets and employed S-400s during the four-day Pakistan clash in May 2025.
Context
This gambit echoes the 1971 Indo-Soviet Treaty when Delhi locked in Moscow’s military backing despite U.S. disapproval, and contrasts with the 2005 U.S.–India civil-nuclear accord that briefly tilted procurement westward. Fifty years of Indian procurement cycles show a pendulum: heavy Soviet sourcing in the 1980s, diversification in the 2000s, and now a re-convergence driven by sanctions-buffeted, discount-offering Russia and a Washington increasingly willing to weaponise tariffs. The episode underscores two structural trends: Russia’s need to keep its largest remaining arms market, and India’s determination to preserve “strategic autonomy” by playing suppliers against each other until its own indigenous fighter (AMCA) matures in the 2030s. On a century horizon, such deals matter less for the kit itself—airframes become obsolete—but more for the supply-chain and diplomatic scaffolding they entrench; they reveal whether the emerging multipolar order allows mid-tier powers like India to remain non-aligned in practice, or whether economic coercion will finally lock them into one bloc.
Perspectives
Global business press
Bloomberg Business, South China Morning Post — They frame India’s push for Su-57 jets and an S-500 shield as a move that could "complicate" trade talks with Washington, underlining how U.S. pressure shadows every Russia-India defence deal. By stressing the risk to U.S. relations, they cater to a Western investor readership and may over-index the likelihood of American retaliation relative to Indian strategic priorities.
Indian business & policy dailies
Economic Times, ThePrint — They present the prospective arms talks as routine deepening of a long-standing partnership while noting that India will still buy from both Moscow and Washington, stressing New Delhi’s ‘strategic autonomy’. Focused on policy nuance and domestic economic upsides, they tend to soft-pedal the sanctions threat and emphasise operational advantages the Air Force would gain, echoing government talking points.
Indian nationalist broadcast/online outlets
Zee News, Republic World — Coverage celebrates Putin’s visit as proof of robust India-Russia ties, highlighting ceremonial warmth, potential Su-57 talks and plans to shield trade from U.S. sanctions—all portrayed as diplomatic wins for Prime Minister Modi. Patriotic framing spotlights Modi’s stature and defiance of Western pressure, largely sidestepping human-rights or Ukraine-war criticisms that could complicate the upbeat narrative.