PM Narendra Modi’s Russia visit reached what is arguably its most important portion on Tuesday with the Prime Minister holding a bilateral meeting with President Vladimir Putin, their first in two years. This is also the first such meeting since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
While the war was certainly on the agenda, economic cooperation between the two countries, especially in the areas of energy, trade, manufacturing, and fertilisers, dominated the meeting.
Despite criticism from the West, India has become a major buyer of Russian oil and this has benefited both countries because it also provided a much-needed export market for Moscow after several buyers in Europe decided not to make oil purchases from it in view of the Ukraine invasion.
This mutually beneficial trade featured in PM Modi’s opening remarks to Mr Putin during the meeting.
Expressing confidence that India-Russia ties will strengthen further, the Prime Minister, who is on his first bilateral visit in his third term, said cooperation between the two countries in the energy sector helped the world as well.
“We could insulate common citizens in India from difficulties in terms of availability of fuel because of your cooperation,” he told Mr Putin.
At a time when India has seen a string of terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, PM Modi told Mr Putin that the country has faced the challenge of terrorism for around 40 years. “I condemn all forms of terrorism,” he said.
Pointing out that the world has had to face multiple challenges in the past five years, first due to Covid-19 and then because of various conflicts, the PM said, “When the world faced a shortage of food, fuel and fertilisers, we did not allow our farmers to face problems, and our ties with Russia played a role in it.”
