Did India seal $2 billion submarine deal with Russia during Putin’s visit to Delhi on Dec 4, 2025? Fact Check
Claim : India seals $2 billion submarine deal with Russia during Putin’s visit to Delhi on December 4, 2025.
Conclusion : The claim is misleading. No new agreement was signed but it pertains a 2019 inter-governmental agreement but delayed by the Ukraine conflict.
Rating: Misleading — 
Several social media users and news outlets have claimed that India has sealed a $2 billion deal with Russia during Putin’s visit. Verified X account ‘ETNOWLive’ that is an affiliate of Times Now reported such a thing in a post captioned : #BREAKING | India seals $2 bn submarine deal with Russia as Putin’s visit” The post can be seen below –
#BREAKING | India seals $2 bn submarine deal with Russia as Putin’s visit#IndiaRussiaRelations #PutinInIndia pic.twitter.com/Us3vNBmhzT
— ET NOW (@ETNOWlive) December 4, 2025
FACT CHECK
DigitEYE India decided to investigate this claim and found that it is misleading. No new agreement was signed or finalized during Putin’s visit to India. On the other hand, the $2 billion submarine deal pertains to a 2019 inter-governmental agreement on $3-billion lease for a nuclear powered submarine which was delayed due to ongoing Ukraine conflict.
Details:
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in New Delhi on December 4, 2025, for the 23rd India-Russia Annual Summit, hosted by PM Narendra Modi. According to a report by PIB, discussions emphasized boosting bilateral trade to $100 billion by 2030, uninterrupted Russian oil supplies, investment protections and a worker mobility pact. No submarine deal featured in joint statements, including military logistics support ratification.
We then checked for the original source of the claim and found that many news outlets had been amplifying a report published by Bloomberg.
This same report was shared on NDTV World where it was mentioned, “India will pay about $2 billion to lease a nuclear-powered submarine from Russia…finalising delivery of the vessel after roughly a decade of talks just as President Vladimir Putin makes a visit to New Delhi this week.” View a section of the report below –
Following this, we came upon an official clarification from the Press Information Bureau (PIB) fact-check on December 4 labeled the reports “misleading,” stating no new contract was executed. The post further stated that “The submarine lease is based on an old contract that was signed in March 2019. There has been a delay in the delivery, and the new delivery is scheduled for 2028.” View the post here.
The headline of an article by @Bloomberg claims that ‘India Clinches $2 Billion Russia Submarine Deal as Putin Visits.’#PIBFactCheck
❌The claim made in this headline is misleading!
✅ No new deal has been signed between India and Russia.
✅ The submarine lease is based on… pic.twitter.com/huNTik8GJh
— PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) December 4, 2025
Next, we searched for information regarding the 2019 contract details and delays that occurred. According to a report by The Times of India on March 8, 2019, India secured a “deal worth over $3 billion for the lease of a nuclear-powered attack submarine from Russia…Defence sources said the over $3 billion (around Rs 21,000 crore) contract for the Akula-1 class submarine, which will be ready by around 2025” The report further observed that “This submarine will replace INS Chakra, the Akula class submarine taken on a 10- year lease from Russia in April 2012” View a section of the report below –
A recent report by The Times of India on December 3, 2025 recorded the same from Navy chief Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi’s statement. This was pertaining to India getting “a nuclear-powered attack submarine (called SSN), armed with conventional or non-nuclear weapons for long-range hunting-killing missions, on a 10-year lease from Russia by 2027-28. The delivery of this advanced Akula-class SSN, which will be commissioned as INS Chakra-3, was to take place much earlier under the $3 billion deal with Russia in March 2019.”
Thus, the claim is misleading.
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