India, Dec. 4 -- India rolled out the red carpet for President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally receiving the Russian leader at the airport on his arrival for a visit that will be capped by an annual summit aimed at strengthening economic, defence, and technology ties amid intense geopolitical churn.

This is Putin's first visit to India in four years - he last visited in December 2021 for the annual summit - and also the first since the start of the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The India-Russia summit will be closely watched in the US and Europe, which have pushed India in recent weeks to reduce Russian energy purchases and to nudge Putin to end the war in Ukraine.

Modi greeted Putin as h...