Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has told Russian president Vladimir Putin that now is “not an era of war”, in some of his most pointed public remarks yet about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
At a meeting between the Indian and Russian leaders in Uzbekistan on Friday, Putin publicly acknowledged New Delhi’s “concerns” about the conflict for the first time — a day after doing the same thing during an encounter with Chinese president Xi Jinping.
The exchanges at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation gathering in Samarkand are Russia’s most public recognition yet of the disquiet in Beijing and New Delhi about the implications of the Ukraine invasion.
Though Xi and Modi have both attempted to remain neutral on Ukraine, their strong ties with Russia are crucial to Putin’s attempt to show that Moscow remains a major player on the world stage.
Putin’s new deference to Modi and Xi’s concerns about the war in Ukraine highlight how Moscow has become increasingly dependent on their willingness to buy its exports after western nations imposed sanctions on Russia.
“I know today’s era is not an era of war and we have talked to you many times over the phone on the subject,” Modi told Putin in remarks published by India’s foreign ministry. India’s prime minister added that democracy, diplomacy and dialogue kept the world together.
“I know your position on the conflict in Ukraine, your concerns that you constantly express,” said Putin, according to a Kremlin transcript. “We will do our best to stop this as soon as possible.”
But Putin sought to blame Kyiv for the conflict continuing, saying: “Only, unfortunately, the opposing side, the leadership of Ukraine, announced its abandonment of the negotiation process, declared that it wants to achieve its goals by military means, as they say ‘on the battlefield’.”
The remarks on the war, which Putin usually calls a “special military operation” to calm public opinion in Russia, appeared to differ from his usual mantra that
“the tasks will be carried out in full”.