1030GMT//Modi greets Putin with a hug; Kremlin cancels Western messaging apps; Russia's oil and gas revenues collapse
PUTIN VISITS INDIA: Narendra Modi greeted Vladimir Putin on the runway at Delhi's airport on Thursday with a big hug. This was Putin's first trip to India since 2022. Modi hosted Putin for a private dinner on Thursday, before official negotiations on Friday. After talks, Putin said that Russia would supply jet fuel to India. (COMMENT>> Putin's trip to India was not just a propaganda exercise. It was also a vital bilateral negotiation session. India has become Russia's largest client for seaborne oil supplies, sold at discounted prices, since the war in Ukraine began. This trade has been threatened by tightened US sanctions. Putin called the talks "useful" and said that they had been held within the “spirit of the specially privileged partnership between Russia and India".)
Putin's visit to India was a mix of chumminess and high pomp and ceremony, in other words, a carefully choreographed show of friendship and serious diplomacy by Modi. There was the hug at the airport, the private dinner, and photos of the two leaders laughing in the back of a car. Then there was a huge guard of honour for Putin to inspect outside the 340-room Presidential Palace. The optics were important for both Russia and India.
Russia's media wrote up the meeting between Modi and Putin with glee. They said that the meeting showed just how close the two leaders are and how important India-Russia relations had become. They also said that the meeting showed that Russia was far from isolated diplomatically.
KREMLIN CANCELS WESTERN MESSAGING APPS: Roskomnadzor, Russia's digital agency, said on Thursday that it aimed to block Snapchat and FaceTime. It has previously said that it intends to block WhatsApp. (COMMENT>> This is part of the Kremlin's crackdown on foreign messaging platforms. It is forcing Russians to adopt its MAX messaging app, which media rights advocates said is stacked with snooping systems.)
OIL AND GAS REVENUES FALL: Russia's revenues from its oil and gas sector fell by a third in November compared to the same period in 2024. Bloomberg made the calculations based on declared Kremlin tax receipts. (COMMENT>> Intensified US sanctions on purchasers of Russian oil and gas and also on Lukoil, one of Russia's biggest energy companies, have hit Russia's revenues.)