Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to visit India for the first time since he ordered the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, a further sign of that US-led efforts to isolate him on the world stage are failing. While dates are still being worked out for the trip to meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, “we are looking forward to it,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in video comments to India’s ANI news service published
Putin To Visit India For First Time Since Ukraine War
Why In News
- Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to visit India for the first time since he ordered the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, a further sign of that US-led efforts to isolate him on the world stage are failing.
- While dates are still being worked out for the trip to meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, “we are looking forward to it,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in video comments to India’s ANI news service published Tuesday that he later confirmed to Bloomberg News.
- “After two visits of Prime Minister Modi to Russia, now we have a visit of President Putin to India,” Peskov said. “We attach a very great importance to these contacts.”
India & Russia
- Peskov said, “India and Russia have a relationship of a special privilege (Strategic Partnership), we have a shared vision of the special nature of our bilateral relationship.”
- He said “the trade and economic cooperation volume (between the two countries) is really booming”. In 2022, he said, trade figures crossed $35.3 billion, recording a sharp rise in 2023 at $56.7 billion, while the first half of 2024 has already touched $30 billion and is expected to cross the $60-billion mark.
- India and Russia held annual summits between the two leaders before the invasion of Ukraine. New Delhi skipped the in-person meeting in December 2022 after Putin threatened to use nuclear weapons in the war, according to people with knowledge of the matter at that time.
- Putin and Modi held talks when Russia hosted the summit of Brics states last month. The Indian leader also met Putin in Moscow in July on his first trip to Russia since the war began, and his first bilateral visit after winning a third term in Indian elections.
- Modi embraced Putin and called him his “friend” at those talks, which took place a day after a deadly Russian missile strike on a children’s hospital in Kyiv that provoked international outrage. Modi’s readiness to visit Putin sparked concerns in the US, which has sought to make the Russian leader a pariah over the war in Ukraine. Still, Washington also knows it needs India to help counter China’s influence in the Asia-Pacific region.
- Moscow and New Delhi have had close ties since the Cold War era. India is a major customer for military hardware from Russia and has also emerged as a top buyer of Russian oil since the US and its Group of Seven allies sought to restrict sales over the war.
- If Putin does go to India, it will signal his growing confidence about traveling abroad since an arrest warrant against him was issued by the International Criminal Court in March last year for alleged war crimes in Ukraine. India isn’t an ICC member and isn’t obliged to implement the warrant. Still, Putin opted not to attend last year’s G-20 summit in India.
- In September, Putin visited Mongolia, which is an ICC member state and faced international criticism for failing to meet its obligation to enforce the warrant.
- South Africa, which is a signatory, asked Putin not to attend last year’s Brics summit because of the warrant. Putin declined to go to this week’s G-20 in Brazil, which is also an ICC member state, saying his presence at the summit would have been a distraction because of the warrant.
Other Visits
- Last week, Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov also visited India to hold key discussions on bilateral and global issues with the Indian leadership. Manturov participated in the plenary session of the Russian-Indian Business Forum in Mumbai, which focussed on expanding economic and business cooperation between the two nations.
