Prime Minister Narendra Modi flew into Moscow on Monday and warmly hugged President Vladimir Putin on a visit that treads a fine line between maintaining a longstanding relationship with Moscow and courting closer Western security ties.
The visit is Modi's first since Russia launched its campaign in Ukraine and since he was returned to power last month as leader of the world's most populous country.
After meeting Moscow's Indian community, Modi had an informal meeting with Putin at his residence at Novo-Ogaryovo outside Moscow, where the leaders drank tea on a terrace, rode in a golf cart together and visited stables.
The Indian leader told Putin it was a "moment of joy" to visit and thanked him for planning "that we chit-chat here this evening".
"Looking forward to our talks tomorrow as well, which will surely go a long way in further cementing the bonds of friendship between India and Russia," Modi later wrote on X, posting a photo of the leaders hugging.
Moscow remains a key supplier of cut-price oil and weapons to India, but the Kremlin's isolation from the West and blooming friendship with Beijing have impacted its time-honoured partnership with New Delhi.
Western powers have in recent years also cultivated ties with India as a bulwark against China and its growing influence in the Asia-Pacific, while pressuring it to distance itself from Russia.
Modi last visited Russia in 2019 and hosted Putin in New Delhi two years later, weeks before Russia began its offensive against Ukraine.
India has shied away from explicit condemnation of Russia ever since and has abstained on United Nations resolutions censuring Moscow.
But Russia's fight with Ukraine has also had a human cost for India.
New Delhi said in February that it was pushing the Kremlin to send back some of its citizens who had signed up for "support jobs" with the Russian military, following reports some were killed after being forced to fight in Ukraine.
The United States on Monday urged Modi to make clear in his talks with Putin that "any resolution to the conflict in Ukraine must... be one that respects the UN Charter with respect to Ukraine's territorial integrity".
Moscow's deepening ties with China have also been a cause for concern.
Washington and the European Union accuse China of selling components and equipment that have strengthened Russia's military industry -- allegations that Beijing denies.
China and India are intense rivals competing for strategic influence across South Asia.
India is part of the so-called Quad grouping with the US, Japan and Australia that positions itself against China's growing assertiveness in the Asia-Pacific region.
- Oil and arms -
New Delhi and the Kremlin have maintained a close relationship since the Cold War, and Russia was for a long time India's largest arms supplier.
But Ukraine has stretched Russia's arms supplies thin, forcing India to eye other sources for weapons -- including by growing its own defence industry.
Russia's share of Indian imports of arms has shrunk considerably in recent years, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
At the same time, India has become a major buyer of Russian oil, providing a much-needed export market for Moscow after it was cut off from traditional buyers in Europe.
That has drastically reshaped energy ties, with India saving itself billions of dollars while bolstering Moscow's war coffers.
India's month-on-month imports of Russian crude "increased by eight percent in May, to the highest levels since July 2023", according to commodity tracking data compiled by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.
But this has also resulted in India's trade deficit with Russia rising to a little over $57 billion in the past financial year.
From Russia, Modi will travel to Vienna for the first visit to the Austrian capital by an Indian leader since Indira Gandhi in 1983.
© 2024 AFP
46 Comments
TaiwanIsNotChina
Should always be kept in mind that this is what you are dealing with with India. Doesn't mean business can't be done but they are not anyone's ally.
deanzaZZR
Modi is a better natural hugger than Xi.
falseflagsteve
Good to see two world leaders getting on well and not arguing like children.
TokyoLiving
The fact that Modi visits Putin ruins all of West's pathetic efforts to try to remove Putin from geopolitical power..
BRICS UNITED, BRICS STRONGER..
EvilBuddha
You don't abandon old friends in order to make new ones, especially those new ones who will never consider you as equals.
It's worth noting that India's opposition is targeting Modi not for visiting Russia, but for not visiting Russia for the last 5 years and for allowing ties with its old friend to drift instead of making them a priority.
JJE
They are really speaking out of the top of their hat and should keep their free advice to themselves. Sort of stuff when can be disregarded when one considers the hypocrisy of their main ally in the mid-east and annexed lands; textbook smoke blowing.
Important to remember they are not "anyone's ally" - they are a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement. This also means they are not a vassal or proxy and are in a much stronger position with international relations and well-earned respect of maintaining sovereignty with regards to decency of institutions (not to mention legitimacy unlike some).
Also relevant to keep in mind India is a founding member of BRICS.
The arms industry thing needs some clarification. Article mentions India is growing its domestic arms industry. Russia is helping them do just that (for example, with the BrahMos cruise missile and others).
Zaphod
Modi keeps India away from US neocon/neolib adventurism. Thumbs up to India.
Blacklabel
And such a big deal was made that Modi hugged Biden. Lol
theFu
Putin really, really, needed a hug. He knows what most of the world thinks about him.
Modi is thinking, "I get cheap oil for the price of a hug. Sure, I can do that." Most of the world has drastically reduced Russian oil purchases, but Russia has so much that someone will always need some of it.
The BRIC name is just for marketing. They aren't friends. They just put up with each other while looking at their individual "best interests". When India is flooded, how much aid does China, Russia and Brazil send? If they do send any, it comes with ties to be repaid somehow. Friends help when help is needed, without strings.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Important to observe there are no credible arguments that Russia isn't violating Ukraine's territorial integrity every way possible.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Maybe Putin can put on footage of the children's hospital that was just bombed and they can have a laugh.
Ramsey's Kitchen
Modi is a better natural hugger than Xi....Modi keeps India away from US neocon/neolib adventurism. Thumbs up to India.
Yep, looks like hugs come naturally to Modi :)
Washington and the European Union accuse China of selling components and equipment that have strengthened Russia's military industry
Those mighty dual use Chinese washing machine chips powering Russki flying shovels.
Moonraker
They hugged to the sound of the squelch of slime.
stormcrow
Putin the killer. How could anybody hug somebody like that without a sense of shame?
Ken
But he is hugging that dude? I'm guessing it was the lower class citizens that they openly show no support or concern for
Sh1mon M4sada
I'd rather have leaders hug than curse each other.
Ken
He doesn't care about his own people, kissing Putins arse while some of his people lost their lives in a pointless war
wallace
Russia destroys a Ukrainian children's hospital. Evidence of a Russian cruise missile, and the two are embracing. Probably a Putin double.
bass4funk
Maybe, he doesn’t see Putin in the same way like other leaders do
Cards fan
Me too. Especially after their forces just bombed a kid's cancer hospital. That's definitely not something to curse a "leader" over. /s
Bashir butt
bloody Wolves hug each other. . okami
Ramsey's Kitchen
Notice how the pro-Russian invasion types will always tell you what the "talk on the web" is, yet never provide sources for anything.
This video of the Artem military plant should be clear enough for most. it shows 6 missiles clearly hitting the plant. UAF claims to have shot down 11 of 13 missiles. https://x.com/MyLordBebo/status/1810399141136314501
No one's buying the "we want peace now" drivel from pro-invasion supporters.
That would be a peace talk supporter, babes. The opposite of " lets keep prolonging this conflict as it is a great deal for US " supporters.
geronimo2006
Keep the cheap oil flowing. No morals.
Ramsey's Kitchen
Cue NAFO denials lol, video evidence doesn't lie...unlike Washington narrative "news", rofl. Same news that told us Joe has never been in better shape, right ?
>
Seigi
Great job India!
nik
Russia does not and will not have friends except those who are time-tested and reliable. Russia has strong, reliable traditions, “An old friend is better than two new ones,” remember this all and always. Russia does not forgive traitors. India was once in great need of support and help from outside, and Russia always provided this help to India.
Cards fan
of invading it's neighbors. We know Nik.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Still true that Russia's friends are the Army and the Navy?
itsonlyrocknroll
Russia destroys a Ukrainian children's hospital. Evidence of a Russian cruise missile, and the two are embracing. Probably a Putin double.
The russian president might as well paint on every cruise missile, "paid for by my dear friend Shri Narendra Modi".
The people of Ukraine will never forget this betrayal. never
*Ramsey's Kitchen
Yeah denying clear video evidence is a bit hard.. kinda disproves the UAF shooting down 11 of 13 incoming missiles claim too ey, And you are spot on - the super duper Lord Bebo news have proven to be " the real truth" more often than CNN & company, ROFL. What a new world we live in...glad you have seen the light ;)
TaiwanIsNotChina
Turning a blind eye to basic morals?
ok1517
Hugging a dictator who is responsible for killing numerous children in a hospital.
Who is responsible for killing thousands of innocent civilians in Ukraine.
Who is responsible for the death of more than 500.000 invaders!
Who is responsible for rapes, deportations, looting, destroying, terrorizing!
Clearly show which side Moody is on!
wallace
Putin bombs schools, hospitals, and apartments killing tens of thousands. Abducts 100,000 Ukrainian children.
bass4funk
Never.
Ramsey's Kitchen
EvilBuddha
More Americans commenting on this news than the news about Indian elections where Modi lost his parliamentary majority. Just goes to show that they don't care much about democracy if the said country is outside their Euro-centric perspective.
This also makes the Biden administration’s propaganda about the Russia-Ukraine war as a fight between democracy and authoritarianism fall flat on its face, which is why it's easier for American liberals to label India as a non-democracy than to do any serious introspection about why a majority of the world’s population refuses to side with the West.
Hint - Your past support of dictators in this part of the world (China and Pakistan) is coming back to bite you.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Except when you say the US should get along with Putin.
TaiwanIsNotChina
This isn't an Israel article or even a US article. If you want to say Modhi shouldn't have hugged Biden you are welcome to do so.
TaiwanIsNotChina
World Press Freedom report on India don't lie and it isn't pretty:
https://rsf.org/en/country/india
bass4funk
No, I think we should try and get along with him.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Just the facts are sufficient.
TaiwanIsNotChina
So we should try, but also not get along with him. Gonna have to explain that one to me. He's also a mass murderer. Some people you don't try to get along with.
bass4funk
To you perhaps, not to me.
bass4funk
Huh? We should try, respect, mutually and see where that goes, we should, but be cautious and vigilant as well.
I did, I was clear.
Our government as well, and I love my country still.
mikeylikesit
Jews are fearful for their futures in France because the Far Left just partnered with a strongly antisemitic Muslim bloc to deny Le Pen.
Whatever one’s opinion about Le Pen, she’s never murdered anyone in the streets or ordered assassinations, which is far more than can be said for Putin, Modi, Biden, or most other powerful world leaders.
wallace
It’s impossible to get along with Putin who wants to live by different rules and not the internationally agreed ones like the Charter of the UN. Like the charter on human rights. Like the charter on press freedom.