Putin, Modi agree to expand India-Russia trade, strengthen friendship

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed on Friday to expand and diversify trade beyond oil and defence despite Western pressure on New Delhi to scale back its decades-old close ties with Moscow. India, the world's top buyer of Russian arms and seaborne oil, has rolled out the red carpet for Putin during his two-day state visit, his first to New Delhi since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.