India, Dec. 5 -- India and Russia made the much-needed move of putting their economic relationship front and centre at their annual summit, drawing up a five-year programme for developing strategic areas in this sphere, concluding a mobility agreement and reiterating their commitment to the energy partnership that has been under stress because of pressure from the West. In many ways, the summit between PM Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin was an opportunity for India to reassert its stance of strategic autonomy amid unprecedented churn and uncertainty on the international stage. The outcomes of the summit were, in some ways, a riposte to strident calls from the West to curtail economic ties with Russia.

Modi's act of breaking wi...