India, Dec. 4 -- Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to India after four years for an annual bilateral summit at an interesting juncture. One, India-Russia ties are at their best since the days of the erstwhile Soviet Union. This is more on account of global factors, just as it was in the 1970s. Second, US-Russia talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine are at an advanced stage, and a closure may be imminent, despite the misgivings of European nations. This could change the global dynamic. In this context, New Delhi and Moscow must focus on taking their relationship much beyond defence cooperation, which has acted as the ballast for many decades, and hydrocarbons, a relatively new factor that has boosted trade ties but in a manner that is entirely to Russia's advantage. There are several factors in Moscow's favour. Russia is currently the country with the deepest strategic partnership with India. Over the years, Russia has shared sensitive defence and nuclear technologies that others have been reluctant to part with, despite several hiccups related to the delayed delivery of military hardware and lack of adequate support on occasions. Russian officials have spoken about expanding cooperation in the civil nuclear field to small modular reactors, and ramping up connectivity to bolster trade. But it is in the area of future-proofing and broadbasing the relationship that both sides have faltered. Unlike in the Soviet era, India and Russia are economies with large internal markets and a substantial middle class. India is yet to find a foothold in the Russian market, largely due to a variety of non-tariff barriers, and must push to gain access to this. It is not enough for Russia to act in a piecemeal manner by opening up a handful of sectors to Indian exports. A solid and wide-ranging trade basket will provide further depth to bilateral trade, for which both sides have set a target of $100 billion by 2030. A planned mobility agreement and the proposed India-Eurasia Economic Union free trade deal, too, will help strengthen economic ties, provided they are concluded speedily. The India-Russia Summit and other meetings around it must go beyond mere optics and the established script to open up new areas of cooperation and business. The Russian market is an opportunity for India, and New Delhi should not let go of it by focusing only on pursuing defence deals and hydrocarbon trade....