Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday told President Vladimir Putin that “war cannot solve problems” and urged “peace through dialogue” on a trip to Moscow more than two years into the Ukraine offensive.
Modi touched down in Moscow as tensions flared in Europe, following a massive Russian missile barrage in Ukraine that Kyiv said hit a children’s hospital in the capital.
During his first meeting with Putin in Russia since the Kremlin launched its campaign in Ukraine, Modi said the conflict was discussed “openly and in detail”.
“When innocent children are murdered, one sees them die, the heart pains and that pain is unbearable,” Modi told Putin in comments in Hindi.
The Indian premier arrived in Moscow on Monday hours after strikes that hit cities across Ukraine killed at least 38 people.
“I know that war cannot solve problems, solutions and peace talks can’t succeed among bombs, guns, and bullets,” the Indian leader added.
“And we need to find a way to peace through dialogue,” he said.
On Monday evening, Modi was pictured hugging Putin at his country residence, drawing condemnation from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
He wrote on social media: “It is a huge disappointment and a devastating blow to peace efforts to see the leader of the world’s largest democracy hug the world’s most bloody criminal in Moscow on such a day.”
At the Kremlin, Putin hailed India and Russia’s “very long-standing friendship” and said they now enjoy a “specially privileged, strategic partnership”.
Putin thanked Modi for “the attention you pay to the most urgent problems” and said, “You are trying to find some ways to solve the Ukrainian crisis, too, of course primarily by peaceful means”.
However, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later told Russian news agencies that Modi “is not claiming to offer mediation efforts”.
Modi wrote on X that the talks were “productive” on “ways to diversify India-Russia cooperation in sectors such as trade, commerce, security, agriculture, technology and innovation”.
Afterwards, Putin decorated Modi with the country’s top medal for civilians, the Order of St Andrew the Apostle the First-Called, and the leaders embraced again.
Russia is a vital supplier of cut-price oil and weapons to India, but Moscow’s isolation from the West and growing ties with Beijing have impacted its partnership with New Delhi.
Modi is courting closer Western security ties after being returned to power last month as leader of the world’s most populous country.
Western powers have in recent years also cultivated stronger relations with India as a hedge against China and its growing influence across the Asia-Pacific region while pressuring New Delhi to distance itself from Russia.
The US on Monday urged Modi to make clear to Putin that “any resolution to the conflict in Ukraine must … be one that respects the UN Charter with respect to Ukraine’s territorial integrity”.
Modi last visited Russia in 2019 and hosted Putin in the Indian capital two years later, weeks before Russia began its offensive against Ukraine.
India has largely shied away from explicit condemnation of Russia ever since and abstained on United Nations resolutions targeting the Kremlin.
