Top Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday the Russian government is extremely interested in helping India expand its use of nuclear power, indicating it will be a top priority for Vladimir Putin when he visits the country this week.
The Russian strongman is expected to visit India for a state visit on December 4 and 5. He will be leading a Russian delegation to the annual India-Russia summit with Peskov indicated would also include the head of Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear energy corporation.
“[Alexey] Likhachev, head of Rosatom, will be part of the presidential delegation during his visit,” Peskov told reporters, according to the Russian news agency Tass. “He will bring with him a proposal on small modular reactors. This proposal will be discussed during the negotiations.”
“Russia has experience, real experience, in producing such small reactors,” he continued. “And I have no doubt that we will be ready to discuss this issue with India and provide these technologies to our Indian friends.”
Peskov noted that Russia has already aided India, a nuclear state both in civilian and military capacity, with training for power plant workers. Russia helped India build its largest plant, the Kudankulam nuclear power plant (NPP) in southern India, and is reportedly seeking a more “active part” in strengthening India’s reliance on nuclear energy.
The visit to India will follow an extremely active week for Putin on foreign policy, as he met with American special envoy Steve Witkoff on Tuesday to discuss a proposed peace agreement to end Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Peskov offered little commentary on the meeting regarding the Ukraine invasion, instead emphasizing that the “key priority” of the moment was preparing for Putin’s visit to India.
“This world is about to see something new and we will be part of this new world. We are united by our shared vision of the future of this multipolar world,” Peskov insisted. “We have always been supporting our friends. Russia supports India. We maintain bilateral relations with your neighbors and by developing these fruitful relations, we are ready to do our best and everything we can to contribute to the atmosphere of peace, predictability, and stability in your and our region.”
India and Russia have maintained longstanding friendly relations for decades, driven in large part by Russia’s willingness to sell defense technology to India and, more recently, by India’s large demand for discounted Russian oil. India and Russia are also allies through the anti-American security and economic alliance of BRICS, which also includes Brazil, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Indonesia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The government of Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi has rejected pressure from Europe and the United States to stop buying Russian fossil fuels and, through these profits, funding the Ukraine invasion, insisting that New Delhi’s mandate is to act in the best interests of the Indian people. Indian leaders have bristled in particular at European demands to stop buying Russian oil while European countries continue to purchase large quantities of Russian natural gas.
According to the Indian government, Putin’s visit will “provide an opportunity for the leadership of India and Russia to review progress in bilateral relations, set the vision for strengthening the ‘special and privileged strategic partnership’ and exchange views on regional and global issues of mutual interest.” He is scheduled to meet Modi in person and attend a state dinner hosted by Indian President Droupadi Murmu.
While neither side has emphasized the addressing of American sanctions on the Russian oil industry, it is likely to be a major topic of discussion for Modi and Putin. The administration of President Donald Trump increased the pressure on Russia significantly in October by announcing targeted sanctions against oil giants Lukoil and Rosneft, which Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described as “Russia’s two largest oil companies that fund the Kremlin’s war machine.”
Initial reports in October indicated that the sanctions would cause significant damage to India’s oil business with Russia. Anonymous “Indian oil executives” told Bloomberg News at the time that “flows of Russian oil to major Indian refiners are expected to fall to near zero” because the financials of the agreement no longer made sense, as well as concerns about violating the sanctions.
“A sole exception could be refiner Nayara Energy Ltd., which is backed by Rosneft and has already been sanctioned by the UK and the European Union,” Bloomberg claimed. “The refiner has been operating exclusively on Russian crude since EU sanctions came into effect in July and doesn’t have other supply options.”
The Press Trust of India, citing the analytics company Kpler, reported on Tuesday that Indian purchases of Russian oil dropped by nearly a third since the new sanctions were implemented. The company documented a brief increase in purchases before the sanctions took effect and predicted that November imports, totally around 1.6 million barrels per day (bpd) from Russia, could drop to just 1 million bpd in December.
Addressing the situation on Tuesday, Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said, “We cannot interfere in the diplomatic relations between the US and India. We understand that there is pressure over India.”
“We know that India is very sovereign in defining its national interests. We admire this characteristic of India,” Peskov said. “We’re looking forward to possibilities despite everything to ensure our right to sell oil and to ensure the right of those who want to purchase oil to ensure the right to buy our oil.”
Rosatom and the nuclear industry are a much smaller part of Russia’s international trade profile, though the U.S. has implemented some sanctions on Rosatom and its leadership.
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