As part of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India, the two nations on Friday inked multiple pacts in the transport and connectivity sectors, with Russia aiming to tap into India’s maritime ambitions and capacity-building initiatives.
“The two sides agreed to deepen cooperation in building stable and efficient transport corridors, with the focus on expanding logistics links for improving connectivity and enhancing infrastructure capacity to support the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), the Chennai–Vladivostok (Eastern Maritime) Corridor, and the Northern Sea Route,” India and Russia’s joint statement said.
In this context, the countries signed two key memoranda of understanding (MoUs) to extend maritime cooperation.
The two corridors are crucial for India’s strategic and commercial maritime goals. The INSTC, which has the troubled Chabahar port as an essential touchpoint, is key to India’s trade ambitions with Central Asia and beyond, along with its strategic significance.
Similarly, the Eastern Maritime Corridor has also been key to India, as the two countries look to expand cargo volumes along the route.
Government officials said that key commodities on the route currently are crude oil and coking coal. Meanwhile, the Northern Sea Route has recently emerged as an area of thrust for India.
“The Russian side appreciated the participation of the Indian delegation in the 6th International Arctic Forum held in Murmansk in March 2025. The Indian side expressed its readiness to play an active role as an observer in the Arctic Council,” the statement said.
India’s Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways and the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation signed an MoU on the training of specialists for ships operating in polar waters.
The initiative seeks to facilitate training of Indian seafarers in polar waters through programmes designed and facilitated by Russian agencies specialising in this field.
The ministry also signed another agreement with the Russian Federation’s Maritime Board, which entails cooperation in various sectors of the maritime domain such as shipping, ports, joint mineral exploration, and research and development.
The two countries also noted the fruitful cooperation between the railways of Russia and India, aimed at establishing partnerships in the field of mutually beneficial technology exchange, the statement said.
 "Chennai to Arctic: India-Russia multiple pacts widen maritime corridors")
