The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)

Moscow, Delhi work on PM visit to Russia, first since Ukraine war

We cannot (say) the dates as yet, because the dates are announced by the parties in agreement,” Yuri Ushakov, an assistant to Russian President Vladimir Putin, said, according to the news agency. “But we are actively preparing. I will emphasise once again, this visit will take place,” he told reporters, replying to a question.

Over the last two years, New Delhi has maintained a diplomatic balancing act between Russia and Ukraine. While it has not explicitly condemned the Russian invasion, it has called for an internatio­nal probe into the Bucha massacre and has expressed concern over nuclear threats issued by Russian leaders. At the UN Security Council, India has taken a nuanced position and abstained from voting against Russia in several resolution­s.

This will be a standalone visit on the lines of the annual bilateral summit between the Indian and Russian leaders, that have been going on since 2000. The Annual Summit between the Prime Minister of India and the President of the Russian Federation is the highest institutio­nalised dialogue mechanism in the strategic partnershi­p between India and Russia.

So far, 21 annual summits have taken place alternativ­ely in India and Russia; the 21st summit was in New Delhi in December20­21.sincethen,modi and Putin have maintained regular contact through at least 10 telephone conversati­ons to review progress on bilateral cooperatio­n and exchange views on regional and global issues of mutual interest: five telephone conversati­ons in 2022, two in 2023 (June 30 and August 28) and three in 2024 (January 15, March 20 and June 5).

India has strategic ties with Moscow and a strong dependence on Russia for defence supplies. Ever since the war began, India has also been buying Russian oil at discounted prices to cushion the inflationa­ry impact of rising oil prices.

The last in-person bilateral meeting between the two leaders took place in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on the sidelines of the SCO Summit in September 2022. This was the time, when Modi had told Putin that “this is not the era of war” — a line later used in the formulatio­n at the G20 summitinba­liinnovemb­er2022and by other western leaders and interlocut­ors to press on Russia to end the war.

Modi is, however, learnt to be skipping the Shanghai Cooperatio­n Organisati­on (SCO) summit to be held on July 3-4 in Astana, Kazakhstan. This sends a mixed signal about Delhi’s commitment to the platform — where Chinese President Xi

Jinping and Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif are expected to attend.

Modi’s visit to Russia comes just after his visit to Italy for the outreach session at the G7 leaders’ summit on June 13-14. He met top world leaders there — US President Joe Biden, British PM Rishi Sunak, French President Emmanuel Macron, Germany Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian PM Giorgia Meloni — and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the G7 leaders’ summit.

The Indian Prime Minister, however, did not go for the peace summit on Ukraine held in Switzerlan­d. Top Indian official, Secretary (West) in MEA, Pavan Kapoor, went for the summit meeting, but India did not sign the joint communique since Russia was not present there.

Russia did not attend the Swiss summit, calling it a “waste of time”. On June 16, India decided to not sign the joint communique by saying that “only those options acceptable to both parties can lead to abiding peace” — reflecting its diplomatic tightrope walk since Russia invaded Ukraine.

The Indian position of not becoming a signatory to the joint communique was explained by Kapoor in his statement as Moscow — one of the two warring parties —had declined to attend the summit in Burgenstoc­k in central Switzerlan­d. The Russia-ukrainewar,whichbegan onfebruary­24,2022,isinitsthi­rd year now, with no end in sight.

Laterthisy­ear,thereisano­ther possible opportunit­y for Modi to travel to Russia — since Russia is hosting the annual summit of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) in October — it is scheduled to take place in Kazan from October 22-24.