India and Russia expand cooperation in energy, trade, technology, and skilled manpower, taking their partnership to the next level in a shifting global order.
July 16, 2025 | Hemant Kumar
Over the decades, India-Russia relations have been characterized by defence cooperation, Cold War solidarity, and strategic coordination in international affairs. From the MiG fighter aircraft to the BrahMos missile platforms, the bilateral axis had traditionally hinged on hardware and defence diplomacy. But over recent years, something quietly changed, a change that signals a shift from arms to artisans, from military hardware to human capital. This transformation portends an even more profound change: the ascendancy of soft power in the India–Russia dynamic.
Russia’s intention to bring in as many as 1 million highly skilled Indian workers by the end of 2025 to address severe shortages constitutes a historic realignment. The action constitutes a departure from classical diplomatic and commercial boundaries and represents a greater socio-economic engagement. It has the potential to forever redefine the way both countries think about workforce planning, migration, and economic security.
Coined by political scientist Joseph Nye, soft power refers to a nation’s ability to attract and co-opt, rather than coerce. It arises from a country’s culture, values, and policies, and increasingly, from its human capital.
India, with its youth bulge and Skill India initiative, is well-positioned to capitalize on this. Unlike the traditional hard power of arms deals, exporting skilled talent fosters long-term trust, interpersonal linkages, and economic interdependence. In many ways, people become the new ambassadors of foreign policy.
This shift is not merely economic, it is cultural, societal, and deeply strategic. It speaks to India’s emergence as a global supplier of skilled talent and Russia’s evolving openness to soft power partnerships beyond weapons and war games.
India is a great power, a natural ally… We are developing our ties with India in all directions. — Vladimir Putin
Historically, Russia has been India’s most reliable defence partner. Even in a rapidly multipolar world, where India diversifies its arms imports from the US, France, and Israel, Russia remains central. However, the nature of this partnership is diversifying, not weakening.
The Russian Federation is facing a demographic and industrial labour crisis. With a decreasing population, an ageing labour force, and post-Ukraine war mobilizations robbing factory floors of working-age males, Russia is in trouble keeping production in crucial sectors such as metallurgy, construction, manufacturing, logistics, and IT going.
According to projections from Russia’s Ministry of Labour, the country will face a shortfall of over 3 million workers by 2030. The Ural region, particularly Sverdlovsk (Yekaterinburg), has been severely hit, with a chronic shortage of skilled manpower threatening to derail industrial output.
To plug this gap, Russia is turning to India, not for trade, not for weapons, but for workers.
The scope—1 million workers by end-2025—is revolutionary, particularly in an environment where overall annual migration from India to Russia historically fluctuated in the low thousands.
A few converging factors have turned India into the default destination for Russia’s human capital shift:
India’s median age is 28; Russia’s is more than 40. India is adding almost 1 million new job applicants each month. Russia is losing them.
With increasing Western sanctions and post-Ukraine invasion labour restrictions, Russia finds itself shut out of traditional pools of labour, from CIS countries to Eastern Europe. India offers a neutral, non-aligned substitute.
Indian workers, especially in technical professions and vocational trades, have solid base skills and are more flexible, with numerous already at ease with English-language industrial procedures.
India’s own desire to export labour to mitigate unemployment has enabled it to be a willing partner.
This project is not merely a Russia tale—it’s a wake-up call for India’s Skill India Mission.
Many training centres remain under-utilized, course quality varies widely, and certification is not always internationally recognized. If India wants to make the most of Russia’s offer, it needs urgent reforms:
Standardize training and certification aligned with global benchmarks.
Facilitate language and cultural readiness programs for outbound workers.
Build robust migration support systems to prevent exploitation and ensure dignified employment abroad.
Can we gear up our skilling ecosystem not only to prepare for India but also to feed the world?
Russia has indicated its interest in co-investing in Indian vocational training centres, particularly those focused on heavy industry and infrastructure. This fits into India’s idea of becoming the “Skill Capital of the World.”
It could be the first substantive external test of Skill India’s scalability, credibility, and export-readiness.
The India-Russian relationship has always been characterized by high-level strategic talks, defence deals, and energy ties. But for the first time, the common man will be the face of this partnership.
There will be thousands of Indian workers—technicians, engineers, welders, and foremen—living in Russian cities, employed in local companies, and mingling with the Russian populace. This people-to-people contact is where there’s enormous soft power potential.
In addition, Indian remittances from Russia can increase substantially, supplementing household incomes and forex reserves.
Of course, all is not well. The project involves risks:
If not done, it might provoke diplomatic retaliations or worker uprisings.
What we are seeing is not simply a labour export agreement. It is the inauguration of a new economic diplomacy paradigm for India—where human capital is used as strategic currency.
In an age when developed countries are experiencing falling populations and Asia is creating a demographic surplus, India can become a reliable provider of skilled manpower, with:
Russia is the test case. The globe may take its cue.
India–Russia relations for decades were based on politics, defence contracts, and respect for each other. But 2025 will be etched in history as the year when relations shifted from policy to people.
This new phase calls for fresh thinking. The future of diplomacy lies not just in military pacts or grand summits, but in how nations enable their people to live, work, and thrive across borders.
As Russia opens its doors to Indian talent and India scales up its skilling ecosystem, a new kind of alliance is being born—one built not on fear and force, but on trust, talent, and transformation.
To quote Prime Minister Modi, “India–Russia friendship has always remained in ‘plus.’ It is full of warmth.” That warmth now fuels not just diplomacy but also people-to-people connections, cultural resonance, and strategic trust for a new era.
By emerging as the largest foreign workforce provider to Russia, India is establishing itself as a worldwide skills superpower.
The transformation has begun. And it’s irreversible.
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