Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi walk during an informal meeting at the Novo-Ogaryovo country house, outside Moscow, on July 8.
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Sergei Karpukhin/AFP via Getty Images
MOSCOW – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in Moscow for a two-day visit with Russian President Vladimir Putin – his first trip to Russia since the Kremlin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago.
But there are few signs Modi, the leader of the world’s largest democracy, plans to challenge Putin directly on his actions in Ukraine. However, Indian leaders appear to be engaging Moscow as part of the balancing act between East and West that has become the core of their foreign policy.
Before leaving for Moscow, Modi noted that his partnership with Russia had “progressed” over the past 10 years, and he looked forward to reviewing all aspects of bilateral cooperation with his “friend” Putin.
“We are trying to play a supportive role for a peaceful and stable region,” Modi added, without elaborating.
The Kremlin’s statement was similarly sanguine, saying Modi’s visit would build on “traditionally friendly Russian-Indian relations.”
Modi was greeted by a walking guard of honor on his arrival at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport on Monday evening. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov, who has worked with the India-Russia aeronautics company, was welcomed on the tarmac.
As Modi’s motorcade made its way to the hotel across from the Kremlin, crowds of cheering people gathered to wave Indian and Russian flags.
Among other activities announced: Putin will host Modi for a private dinner “with a free agenda” for discussions, a Kremlin spokesman said – setting the tone for formal talks on Tuesday.
Modi is also expected to lay flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier of Russia.
There are no current plans for the leaders to address the media, the spokesperson said.
Cold War Allies
Russia and India have had strong ties since the Cold War.
In a partnership that often blurred ideological lines, the Soviets provided arms to India as both countries faced a common threat in the rise of their neighbor China.
Fast forward to today and a lot has changed: the United States is now one of India’s major partners and India’s military needs have diversified. But Modi’s visit to Moscow is a tribute to the enduring India-Russia friendship, analysts say.
India has rejected Western entreaties, including by Washington, to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – with Modi instead urging a vague diplomatic settlement to the conflict.
“Today’s era is not an era of war,” the Indian prime minister told Putin during their last meeting on the sidelines of a regional summit in Central Asia in the fall of 2022.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) meets with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization leaders’ summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on September 16, 2022.
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Putin responded by promising Modi that Russia was doing “everything to stop this as soon as possible.”
Nearly two years later, the death toll and destruction in Ukraine continues to mount, with hundreds of thousands dead and no end to the war.
Just hours before Modi landed, Russian rockets struck cities in Ukraine, killing at least 29 people and injuring dozens more. Among the targets they hit was a children’s hospital in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.
Russia’s Defense Ministry confirmed that its forces had carried out precision strikes on military installations.
Meanwhile, New Delhi is increasingly worried that Western sanctions have pushed Russia into the arms of India’s main regional rival, China, regional exports said.
“India has not condemned the Russian invasion, but that doesn’t mean it supports the war,” Michael Kugelman, director of the Wilson Center for South Asia, told NPR late last year. “It doesn’t support war at all. It makes Russia more dependent on China, and India doesn’t want that because China is India’s strategic competitor.
A binding economic relationship
Further complicating the picture: New Delhi also benefited from buying Russian oil at a steep discount after the US and its allies imposed sanctions on Russian crude.
Meanwhile, easing the way for more Russian-Indian business – and adjusting the massive trade imbalance that has come with Russian oil exports – appears to be at the heart of this week’s talks.
One of the main topics discussed is the development of alternative money transfer systems – think the Russian-Indian versions of Paypal, Zelle or Venmo – as a solution to Western sanctions that cut most Russian banks out of the global SWIFT payment system.
Ahead of Modi’s visit, India’s Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said talks would also focus on the release of between 30-40 Indians who were “targeted” into Russian military service on the promise of payment.
A different view of the multipolar world
In Moscow, Modi’s arrival is seen as the latest evidence of the West’s failure to isolate Russia as it attacks its neighbours. Shortly before Modi’s visit, Putin hosted Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban in Moscow and met with China’s Xi Jinping and several other leaders at the Eurasian regional summit in Kazakhstan.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (left) deliver a joint press statement after talks at the Kremlin in Moscow on July 5.
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The Indian prime minister’s visit – which partly coincides with this week’s NATO summit in Washington, DC – provides another opportunity for Putin to announce Russia’s membership in non-Western clubs such as the BRICS group of developing countries and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization among others. apart.
Putin has created the organization as evidence of a new “multipolar world order” emerging from what, he says, is the moral and economic decay of the West.
Modi, too, has welcomed India’s rise in the new multipolar reality. But he is doing a balancing act to maintain good relations with Western economies that New Delhi is pursuing.
