Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday said that he wanted the Ukraine conflict to be resolved peacefully and “quickly” as he met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the BRICS summit in Russia.
The three-day gathering, held amid tight security in the city of Kazan, is the biggest international event in Russia since the Ukraine conflict began in 2022, with Putin seeking to build an alliance aimed at challenging the West’s “hegemony.”
“We have been in constant touch over the conflict between Russia and Ukraine,” Modi told Putin after the two shook hands and embraced.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“We believe that disputes should only be resolved peacefully. We totally support efforts to quickly restore peace and stability,” he said.
Putin hailed what he called Russia and India’s “privileged strategic partnership” and vowed to build ties further.
New Delhi has walked a diplomatic tightrope since the Ukraine conflict began, pledging humanitarian support for Kyiv, while avoiding explicit condemnation of Russia’s offensive.
Modi visited Kyiv in August and Moscow in July in an effort to encourage talks, as India cast itself as a potential mediator.
About two dozen other leaders are to attend the summit, including Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
The main issues on the agenda include Putin’s idea for a BRICS-led payment system to rival SWIFT, an international financial network that Russian banks were cut off from in 2022, and the escalating conflict in the Middle East.
The Kremlin has touted the BRICS summit as a diplomatic triumph that shows Western attempts to isolate Moscow over the Ukraine conflict have failed.
The US has dismissed the idea that BRICS could become a “geopolitical rival,” but has expressed concern over Moscow flexing its diplomatic muscle as the Ukraine conflict rages.
Moscow has steadily advanced on the battlefield in eastern Ukraine this year while strengthening ties with China, Iran and North Korea — three of Washington’s adversaries.
By gathering BRICS leaders in Kazan, the Kremlin “aims to show that not only is Russia not isolated, it has partners and allies,” Moscow-based political analyst Konstantin Kalachev said.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Putin last year over the illegal deportation of children from Ukraine, and the Russian leader abandoned plans to attend the previous summit in ICC member South Africa.
This time, the Kremlin wants to show an “alternative to Western pressure and that the multipolar world is a reality,” Kalachev said, referring to Moscow’s efforts to shift power away from Western nations.
In televised talks, Putin told Modi the leaders in Kazan “should take a number of important decisions, aimed at further improving the organization’s activities.”
Putin was also to meet Xi and the leaders of South Africa and Egypt yesterday, followed by separate talks with Erdogan and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian today.
Guterres is to sit down with Putin tomorrow, according to the Kremlin, for talks that have been criticized by Kyiv.
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