MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
New Delhi is rolling out the red carpet today for Russian president Vladimir Putin. It's his first state visit to India since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. And as NPR's Diaa Hadid reports, the visit is partly an exercise for both countries to signal defiance to the Trump administration.
DIAA HADID, BYLINE: It's not unusual for old-timers here to hum this when you ask about the relationship between India and Russia.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MERA JOOTA HAI JAPANI")
RAJ KAPOOR: (Singing in non-English language).
HADID: This Bollywood classic goes, the red hat on my head is Russian, and still, my heart is Indian. India has always steered an independent foreign policy, but its relationship with Russia goes way back to when it was the Soviet Union. And that's because India's archrival, Pakistan, was an ally of the United States. And India's engagement with the U.S. is newer. It has been friendly, noticeably in the first Trump administration, like when the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi threw a rally for Trump.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Namaste, namaste.
(CHEERING)
HADID: But relationships soured in Trump's second term. In August, the administration slapped 25% tariffs on many exports from India and then doubled it because ever since Russia invaded Ukraine, India has been purchasing cheap Russian oil. There were public tirades, like from trade adviser Peter Navarro, who spoke to Fox News in August. He characterized India's oil purchases this way.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PETER NAVARRO: Well, it fuels the Russian war machine. India is nothing but a laundromat for the Kremlin.
HADID: A laundromat for the Kremlin. So Putin's visit this week comes as New Delhi finds itself entangled in a war. That pits its old relationship, Russia, against its new relationship, the United States. Srinath Raghavan is a historian of India's foreign policy. He says the visit signals...
SRINATH RAGHAVAN: India will not get browbeaten into abandoning or diluting or modulating a relationship simply at the whims of an American president.
HADID: The visit is important for practical reasons, too. India's military is kitted out with Russian armaments across its navy, air force and army.
CHIETIGJ BAJPAEE: I think a key watch point will be to see if there are any major defense deals that are reached during Putin's visit.
HADID: Chietigj Bajpaee is a senior research fellow for South Asia at the London-based think tank Chatham House. He says that's important because...
BAJPAEE: There have been no major defense deals concluded between both countries since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
HADID: And he says don't discount the India-U.S. relationship.
BAJPAEE: There's very strong linkages and functional cooperation between India and the U.S. So despite the bad blood, India conducts more joint military exercises with the U.S. than with any other country. They've conducted five military exercises just this year.
HADID: And not all Indians will welcome Putin as his war against his neighbor, Ukraine, rages on.
(CROSSTALK)
HADID: On Tuesday, families of more than 60 men gathered in the capital. They held up signs demanding Moscow return their sons who they say were tricked into fighting for Russia, like Surendra Dahiya (ph). On the phone, his uncle, Sunil Chaudry (ph), says Dahiya paid $4,000 to a man who promised him a job as a cook in the Russian army.
SUNIL CHAUDRY: (Non-English language spoken).
HADID: "The last I heard of him was from September."
CHAUDRY: (Non-English language spoken).
HADID: Dahiya said he was in Ukraine on a front line near Donetsk. And just as Putin is returning to India, Chaudry hopes his nephew too can return home.
Diaa Hadid, NPR News, Mumbai.
(SOUNDBITE OF TACOMA RADAR SONG, "SO MUCH WATER") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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