India strengthens economic ties with Russia despite shifting rhetoric - ISW

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported the information.

Russian state oil company Rosneft and Indian oil refining company Reliance Industries signed a 10-year agreement under which Russia will supply 500,000 barrels of oil to India daily, valued at approximately $13 billion per year, Reuters reported on December 12.

Analysts from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) note that since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and subsequent Western sanctions, India has benefited from the influx of cheap Russian energy, ultimately becoming the largest importer of Russian oil.

ISW highlighted India's attempts to reduce its dependence on Russian military cooperation, strengthen ties with the West, and distance itself from the overtly pro-Russian rhetoric regarding the war in Ukraine. However, despite these efforts, India continues to balance these moves, maintaining strategic economic relations with Russia in its own interest.

• Russia's state oil company Rosneft agreed to supply nearly 500,000 barrels per day of oil to India's private oil refinery Reliance in the largest energy deal between the two countries in history.