India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the G20 Leaders’ Summit at the Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, India on September 9, 2023. He began a two-day summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday. File Photo by India’s PM Press Office/ UPI | License Photo
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi started a two-day Kremlin visit on Monday, marking his first trip to Moscow since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which has managed to maintain a neutral stance since the Russian aggression, has purchased discounted oil from the country since the start of the war, which critics have complained has helped the Kremlin to fund its war against Kyiv. Advertisement
Modi will attend a private dinner led by Russian President Vladimir Putin as cabinet members hold bilateral members.
“[The summit will] provide an opportunity to the two leaders to review the whole range of bilateral issues,” India’s foreign ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said, according to CNN. “[Modi and Putin will] also share perspectives on regional and global developments of mutual interest.”
Modi visited Russia in 2019 during an economic forum in Vladivostok and he last met with Putin face-to-face in 2022 during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting in Uzbekistan.
Modi’s meeting with Putin comes at a critical time for Russia after the G7, led by the United States, met in Italy in June to renew their commitment to Ukraine and fund Kyiv’s efforts by using profits from frozen Russian assets. Advertisement
Putin’s longtime spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian president and Modi will have “an important, full-scale visit” and they would have time to talk informally over that time, according to the state-run news agency TASS.
