Amid Trump trade antics, PM Modi speaks with Putin on Ukraine, bilateral ties
The two leaders had a detailed conversation on the bilateral agenda and reaffirmed their commitment to deepen the India-Russia strategic partnership
At a time when India-US ties have nosedived over President Donald Trump’s decision to impose a combined tariff of 50 per cent on Indian goods as a "pentalty" for India's purchase of crude oil from Russia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday (August 8) that he has spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin and had a “detailed conversation” on Ukraine and deepening the Indo-Russia strategic partnership.
Referring to Putin as “my friend”, the Prime Minister thanked him for briefing him on the current status of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
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“Had a very good and detailed conversation with my friend President Putin. I thanked him for sharing the latest developments on Ukraine. We also reviewed the progress in our bilateral agenda and reaffirmed our commitment to further deepen the India-Russia Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership. I look forward to hosting President Putin in India later this year. @KremlinRussia_E,” Modi posted on X.
Move comes after China's 'welcome'
The development comes hours after China welcomed the Prime Minister’s planned visit to the Tianjin Summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) to be held later this month.
“China welcomes Prime Minister Modi to China for the SCO Tianjin Summit. We believe that with the concerted effort of all parties, the Tianjin summit will be a gathering of solidarity, friendship and fruitful results, and the SCO will enter a new stage of high-quality development featuring greater solidarity, coordination, dynamism and productiveness,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun.
“China will host the SCO Summit in Tianjin from August 31 to September 1 this year. Leaders of over 20 countries, including all member states of the SCO and heads of 10 international organisations, will attend relevant events. The SCO Tianjin Summit will be the largest summit in scale since the establishment of the SCO,” added Guo.