No world leader has visited India as often as the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. Mr Putin will land in New Delhi today — his ninth trip to India — as the leader of his nation, a tenure that has spanned more than two decades. That period has seen trust between India and Russia fray a little, as New Delhi has grown closer to Washington and Moscow to Beijing. Yet, the relationship with Russia has remained stable. This week, Mr Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have an opportunity to re-energize their bilateral partnership at a time when the world is in a rare churn. India has mounting worries about Chinese military presence along their border. An increasingly aggressive Beijing is threatening Taiwan’s independent existence. Meanwhile, Russia has amassed troops along its border with Ukraine, sparking fears of a conflict in eastern Europe. And in Afghanistan, the Taliban’s rule is fuelling concerns over the spread of transnational terrorism.

Amid all of this uncertainty, India has chosen to send important signals to Russia and to the West. Three days after huddling with Putin, Mr Modi will join leaders from more than 100 countries in the Summit for Democracy, a virtual conclave hosted by the president of the United States of America that is meant to showcase democracy’s superiority to autocratic regimes like those in Russia and China. That both meetings are scheduled in the same week might be a coincidence, but they help New Delhi underscore its strategic autonomy even as both Washington and Moscow woo it. Putin’s visit to New Delhi — only his second trip abroad this year — also comes at a time when India has begun importing S-400 missile defence systems from Russia, ignoring threats of sanctions from the US. It helps that the S-400, by all accounts, is the best anti-aircraft radar system of its kind. But by defying the US on the missile defence platform while promising to work with the Joe Biden administration on countering China, New Delhi gets to emphasize that it is not ready to give up on its friendship with Russia. India is also instituting a mechanism of talks between the foreign and defence ministers of the two countries, a system it currently has in place only with the US, Japan and Australia. New Delhi knows that be it on Afghanistan or China, Moscow remains a major player. India does not need to pick sides to win.