As India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, landed in Moscow on Monday, it was straight into the nice and cozy embrace of Vladimir Putin. Modi stated the go to – his first since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine – was to cement the “bonds of friendship” between the 2 international locations, and later effusively described Russia as India’s “all-weather friend and trusted ally”.
The India-Russia relationship runs deep, courting again to the chilly struggle, and Russia has lengthy been the most important provider of arms to India. Since he was elected in 2014, Modi has constructed up a much-publicised rapport with Putin, the 2 leaders having had greater than 20 conferences.
Nevertheless, Putin’s determination to invade Ukraine in February 2022 put an unprecedented pressure on their ties and compelled India to tread a difficult path in balancing its relationships with each Putin and the west.
India refused to affix western international locations in condemning Putin’s invasion and abstained from all UN votes denouncing Russia. It additionally eagerly turned the largest purchaser of low-cost Russian oil, nonetheless sending billions to the nation’s coffers, which was seen by some to undermine western sanction efforts. Nonetheless, India’s displeasure with Putin’s actions was not completely hid, with Modi stating that “now is not the era for war”.
The Indian prime minister’s determination to strengthen his relationship with the western leaders who’re Putin’s greatest critics, together with the US president, Joe Biden, and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, has been met frostily within the corridors of the Kremlin. Equally, Putin’s more and more shut ties with Beijing are considered with nice suspicion in New Delhi, the place China is considered as the best risk.
However whereas the geopolitical panorama was markedly totally different from 2019, when Modi was final in Moscow, the leaders went to nice pains to show their continued bonhomie over the two-day go to which ended on Tuesday night time.
As they greeted one another on Monday, Modi advised Putin he was trying ahead to their “chit-chat”. Throughout a teatime tour round Putin’s residence, Putin expressed his delight that his “dear friend” Modi had made the journey to Russia, saying he was “very happy” to see him once more. “To visit a friend at home is, of course, a great joy,” Modi replied.
The pair then jumped in a golf buggy pushed by the Russian chief and whizzed off to view his assortment of horses. Parallels with Putin’s go to to North Korea a number of weeks earlier, the place he cruised the streets of Pyongyang on the wheel of a limousine laughing and joking alongside the supreme chief, Kim Jong-un, didn’t go unnoticed.
In a while Monday night time, Putin then hosted a casual “special dinner” for the Indian prime minister, an honour that the Kremlin emphasised was reserved for only a few.
The Kremlin had spoken gleefully of Modi’s determination to make Russia amongst his first worldwide journeys after successful a 3rd time period in energy in June. In a TV interview over the weekend, the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, stated western leaders have been “jealous” of the summit, including: “And they are not mistaken, there is something to attach great importance to.”
Indian officers have been extra reserved, nevertheless, with New Delhi emphasising that the go to, Modi’s first in 5 years, was about bilateral relations, including that India sought to “play a supportive role for a peaceful and stable region”.
On Tuesday’s formal summit, Modi stated he and Putin had mentioned all the pieces from new Indian embassies in Russia to elevated cooperation on commerce. But the complexities of India’s diplomatic tightrope stroll over Ukraine have been additionally uncomfortably on show.
Just some hours earlier than Modi touched down in Moscow, Russian air missiles struck Ukraine’s largest kids’s hospital, amongst different civilian targets, killing dozens and prompting international condemnation. The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, described it as “a devastating blow to peace efforts to see the leader of the world’s largest democracy hug the world’s most bloody criminal in Moscow on such a day”.
The summit took additionally place on the identical day that the Nato summit kicked off in Washington, the place Biden and different leaders are anticipated to announce a historic defence package deal for Ukraine.
Putin’s struggle has additionally turn out to be an ungainly home challenge for Modi after it emerged that dozens, if not lots of, of Indians have been recruited unknowingly or in opposition to their will to work for the Russian military on the frontlines in Ukraine, with at the very least two Indians killed in strikes. After the difficulty was raised of their casual chat, Putin promised Modi that every one Indians can be discharged from the Russian navy and despatched residence.
At Monday night time’s dinner, Modi reportedly made his most direct enchantment for Putin to finish the struggle in Ukraine, telling the Russian president that “there is no solution on the battlefield”. But up in opposition to Putin’s megalomaniacal ambitions, few analysts believed Modi’s phrases would have any sway.
