Putin in New Delhi

Russia and India currently have a cooperation program running until the end of this year which comprises of about 200 joint projects, including the $2.35-billion refitting of the INS Vikramaditya aircraft carrier - one of the deals expected to be completed this week.

But Putin will be looking to sign off on at least three new major weapons deals during his March 11-12 visit and extend Moscow's long history of defense relations with India.

In addition to the Vikramaditya refitting deal between Russia's state-controlled arms exporter Rosoboronexport and the Indian Defense Ministry, Putin is expected to sign a $1.2-billion contract for the delivery of a number of MiG-29K/KUB carrier-based fighters.

Putin and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are also expected to discuss the progress of Russia's new T-90 tanks which are being built in India.

Other agreements concern the operational nuclear reactors at Kundankulam in Tamil Nadu, built by Russia, and Russian involvement in the development of the new reactor site at Haripur in West Bengal.

Russia pursuing even-handed policy with India, China

On the surface, two countries such as Russia and India signing arms deals and agreements should not raise too many eyebrows but experts believe that this increasing level of cooperation is an indication of the importance Moscow places on maintaining good relations with the main international players on the sub-continent and surrounding region.

Stanislav Secrieru, an expert at the Center for East European and Asian Studies in Bucharest, believes that Putin is not only looking to secure military contracts but Russian involvement and influence in the region, in the face of expanding Chinese and Indian power.

"Russia holds residual influence in the region," Secrieru told Deutsche Welle.

"However, China's and India's rise will further diminish Russia's position in the region over time. Russia's relations with China already display some asymmetry with Beijing actively counter-balancing Russia in the post-Soviet world, while India does not feel like a junior partner anymore and has managed during the last few years to equilibrate its relationship with Russia."

"Hence, power dynamics in the region indicates that in the mid- to long term, Russian influence will decline with China most probably assuming a more prominent role."

Secrieru believes that Russia is not trying to trump China by cosying up to India but that Moscow is attempting to maintain a balanced relationship with Asia's two great emerging powers.

"Relations with China are more intensive because of the frontier and the Central Asian neighborhood Russia shares with it but Moscow has strived to maintain the equilibrium and ease any suspicions on the Indian side," he said. "The economic crisis and strong performance of China and India only reconfirmed for Moscow that it needs to foster a balanced relationship."

Shanghai bloc provides Russia with strategic opportunities

"Russia's relationship with India is one of pragmatism," Alexander Rahr, a Russia expert at the German Council for Foreign Affairs in Berlin, told Deutsche Welle. "It knows that it is too weak to be a strategic ally so the two countries have agreed to cooperate economically."

Rahr believes that Russia still hopes to gain more strategic power in the region but realises that this can only be done through a new Asian alliance with India and China. The most likely way for this to happen is through the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the intergovernmental mutual-security bloc which also includes a number of Central Asian states.

"The SCO has a bright future and it can offer Russia more than just an economic boost in the region," Rahr said. "Within its framework, Russia can work with the rising Asian powers and benefit from being a member of an organization which boasts the next potential economic and strategic superpowers in India and China."

India benefits from Russia's balancing act

Relations with India are also part of Russia's broader strategy to geographically diversify its economic external relations. Moscow thinks that its economic relations are unbalanced, with the EU accounting for almost 52 percent of Russian trade turnover. Moscow believes that this focus on Europe could constrain its freedom of action on the international stage so relations with India are important to the expansion of Russia's global agenda.

As India continues its steady rise to regional and international prominence, it becomes an attractive partner for countries like Russia who hope to maintain a level of involvement in the sub-continent's politics. In turn, India gets the benefits of Russia’s energy resources, its help in achieving military modernization and the opportunity to expand its technological, chemical and pharmaceutical industries into the Russian market.

"Russia needs open markets and India is one of these," Rahr said. "India has welcomed Russia unlike the EU which demands Moscow to develop more European attitudes and policies in return for the more relaxed trade agreements. So Russia now has the opportunity to sell arms and hi-tech equipment to India and in return, India gets Russia's expertise and technology to help with its civil nuclear program."

"India gets a lot from the relationship with Russia. They have traditional ties going back decades. India-Russia ties survived the Cold War because there were no ideological clashes between them, as there were with China, and India never had any fear of the Soviet Union. So the relationship has endured."

Author: Nick Amies

Editor: Rob Mudge