Putin visit: Russia seeks stronger civil nuclear partnership with India

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Ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India, the Russian Cabinet on Tuesday cleared the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with India to deepen bilateral cooperation in civil nuclear energy. 

During Putin’s visit, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Russian counterpart Andrei Belousov will also co-chair the 22nd India-Russia Intergovernmental Commission on Military and Military Technical Cooperation ministerial meeting in Delhi on Thursday. 

The two leaders will review the entire range of the multifaceted defence relations, including military and military technical cooperation. They will also exchange views on contemporary regional and global issues of mutual interest. 

As for the MoU on civil nuclear cooperation, Russia's Rosatom Nuclear Corporation, which is building several reactors at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tamil Nadu, has been authorised to sign the MoU with Indian authorities on behalf of the Russian government, according to Russian news agency Interfax. 

Interacting with the media on Tuesday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Rosatom chief executive officer (CEO) Alexei Ligachev will be carrying a whole portfolio of proposals, including for cooperation in building small modular reactors, to be tabled at the summit talks in New Delhi. 

Apart from his delegation level talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Russian President is also scheduled to inaugurate the broadcasting of Russia Today’s RT India news channel on Friday. 

Putin is scheduled to land in India on Thursday evening, and will have dinner with Prime Minister Modi where the two are expected to take stock of India-Russia relations. 

On Friday, he is scheduled to visit Rajghat, will receive the ceremonial guard of honour at Rashtrapati Bhavan and have talks with Prime Minister Modi at Hyderabad House. 

The two leaders will then head to Bharat Mandapam to address businesspersons from the two countries. 

Later in the day, the Russian President will formally launch the broadcasting of RT India channel, and then is scheduled to attend the banquet in his honour at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. 

RT India will launch its television broadcast from its state-of-the-art media studio in Noida’s Film City, and roll out four daily news bulletins in English. 

For its India operations, the news channel has a total staff of almost 100 people, including journalists, camerapersons and technicians. According to RT India’s CEO Ashok Bagaria, the objective behind launching RT India is to present an “alternative narrative” to the “one-sided narrative being presented by western media outlets”. 

The channel will focus on geopolitical news and analysis from India and South Asia, Bagaria said. It will not cover domestic news. In related news, the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) has opened a representative office in Mumbai, the CBR said. “It will serve as a link between regulators and financial market participants in Russia and India, creating conditions for mutually-beneficial cooperation between the two countries,” the CBR said. 

CBR opened its first representative office abroad in Beijing in 2017. 

Russian lender Sber launches ₹-denominated letter of credit for Indian suppliers   Sber, the Russia biggest lender, has launched a rupee-denominated letter of credit with deferred payment for purchases in India, a new financial product for importers. The solution is unique in that Sber will settle payments with Indian suppliers in rupees immediately upon submission of supporting documents for the delivery of goods to the bank, while providing the Russian buyer with the option to reimburse the payment later when the deferral period ends, the bank said on Wednesday.

 

The structure of the transaction using a letter of credit will reduce potential risks, while the use of deferred payment will increase the attractiveness of the deal terms for all participants, the statement said. Sber's new tool will assist medium and large businesses in purchasing from both new and current Indian partners, it added “Thanks to Sberbank's branch in India, we can offer our clients products in rupees. We have been conducting pilot operations with deferred payment financing under letters of credit in Indian currency since the summer of 2025 and have confirmed the interest of our clients in this framework,” Sberbank deputy chairman of the Executive Board Anatoly Popov said.  

 

With PTI inputs