Delhi on High Alert as President Putin Arrives for Key India-Russia Summit

New Delhi, Dec 2025 : As Russian President Vladimir Putin prepares to arrive in India for his two-day high-profile visit beginning Thursday, the national capital has been decked with welcome banners and placed under an unprecedented security blanket, reflecting the visit’s immense diplomatic and strategic importance.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to host President Putin for a private dinner shortly after his arrival in New Delhi on Thursday evening. The informal interaction is expected to set the tone for the 23rd India-Russia Annual Summit, which will take place on Friday and focus on strengthening defence cooperation, trade relations, and energy partnerships.

This will be President Putin’s first visit to India since the outbreak of the Ukraine conflict, making it particularly significant amid shifting global alignments. On Friday morning, he will be accorded a ceremonial welcome before holding formal delegation-level talks with Prime Minister Modi.

The summit comes at a sensitive time as New Delhi faces punitive sanctions from the United States, adding a layer of geopolitical complexity to the discussions. Analysts expect defence collaboration, energy security, and strategic autonomy to feature prominently during the high-level talks.

Preparations for the visit have reached their final stages, with authorities implementing a comprehensive five-layer security framework across the capital. The security arrangement includes elite National Security Guard (NSG) commandos, snipers stationed along key travel routes, drone-based surveillance, jammers to block unauthorised signals, and advanced AI-driven monitoring systems to maintain round-the-clock vigilance.

High-tech facial recognition cameras have been installed at sensitive locations to ensure continuous observation and quick threat identification. More than 40 senior Russian security officials have already arrived in New Delhi and are working in close coordination with the NSG and Delhi Police to monitor every movement of the Russian President’s convoy in real time.

The layered security deployment has been strategically divided. The outer security rings are being handled by the Delhi Police and NSG teams, while the inner protective ring will be managed by Russia’s elite Presidential Security Service. During interactions involving Prime Minister Modi, commandos from India’s Special Protection Group (SPG) will also form part of the innermost security cordon.

Every venue linked to the visit, including President Putin’s hotel and other locations on the official itinerary, has undergone extensive security sweeps. Authorities continue to conduct repeated inspections to eliminate any possibility of security lapses.

One of the most striking elements of the security preparations is the arrival of President Putin’s heavily armoured Aurus Senat limousine, which has been specially flown into India for the visit. The state-of-the-art vehicle is designed to withstand extreme threats and is part of Russia’s highest-level protective protocols.

With global attention firmly on New Delhi, the visit is expected to reinforce the long-standing “Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership” between India and Russia at a time of intense international realignments.

Team Maverick.