Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has refused the traditional personal meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. This was reported on December 9 by the news agencies Bloomberg and Reuters. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, also told TASS that a meeting between Putin and Modi is not planned until the end of 2022.
Citing sources in the Indian government, Reuters reported that the decision not to hold the annual summit of Russian and Indian politicians was taken after a closed meeting in September. According to Bloomberg, the reason for New Delhi’s refusal was Moscow’s “veiled threats” to the “possibility of using nuclear weapons in Ukraine.”
However, an anonymous Reuters source stressed that the decision not to hold talks between Modi and Putin was taken long before “nuclear” rhetoric began to be heard from the Russian leadership, and that this factor did not play any role.
Russian officials have repeatedly argued that Moscow will not be the first country to use nuclear weapons. At the same time, on December 8, Vladimir Putin agreed with members of the Presidential Human Rights Council that the threat of nuclear war is “honestly growing.”
A senior Bloomberg source familiar with the situation said relations between India and Russia remained strong, but it was not profitable for Modi to “trumpet friendship” with Moscow against the backdrop of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine. He added that New Delhi’s decision not to attend the traditional December summit was clarified at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Uzbekistan in September. Modi then turned to the Russian president with a proposal to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in Ukraine.
The summit of Russian and Indian politicians, which emphasized the strategic situation of the partnership of the two countries, was canceled for the second time since 2000. It was not held for the first time in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The meeting has been postponed to next year – Putin and Modi met in New Delhi in early December 2021.
After the start of the special operation in Ukraine, the Russian leadership has repeatedly emphasized the importance of cooperation with New Delhi. India is associated with the prospects for the development of Russian energy exports, which became toxic to Western countries after the introduction of new sanctions. In the past months, foreign news agencies have repeatedly reported that India has become an unofficial transit hub for oil produced in Russia.
From the very beginning of the special operation in Ukraine, New Delhi refused to participate in anti-Russian sanctions and did not criticize Moscow.
The BBC announced in the spring that it refrains from criticizing Moscow for continuing to be India’s largest arms supplier – the country buys half of its weapons from Russia, including the S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems, which are critical to strategic defense. against China and Pakistan.
American publications wrote that New Delhi’s neutral position and its refusal to condemn Moscow for actions in Ukraine are based not only on many years of economic cooperation, but also on respect for Russia. Prior to that, Moscow had repeatedly sided with India in the international discussion of regional issues. In particular, the Russian Federation had previously vetoed UN Security Council resolutions on the disputed Kashmir region.
However, although India refrains from making critical statements about Russia at UN meetings, it has repeatedly urged Moscow and Kiev to sit at the negotiating table and end the conflict peacefully. At the SCO summit held in Samarkand in September, Narendra Modi said in a personal meeting with Vladimir Putin that “this age is not an age of war” and added that peace can only be achieved through democracy, diplomacy and dialogue.