The visit of President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India (December 4-5) is being deconstructed internationally to analyse the kind of welcome he was given, the deals announced, the purpose it serves, the impact it has, the strategic signalling, and its implications for India, Russia and globally in the current geopolitical context. Russia is at war in Europe; Europe sees it as a threat but interestingly the just published US National Security Strategy does not mark Russia as a threat any more. India is facing harsh 50% tariffs from the US, of which 25% is on account of Russian oil imports as part of the pressure on India to disengage with Russia. Russia is facing thousands different sanctions from the West.