Russia welcoming PM Modi’s help to facilitate peace talks with Ukraine is not new. However, it is not a small deal either, coming as the US struggles to find a way to revive stalled talks.
Russia said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping offered to help facilitate peace talks to end the Ukraine war on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit, Reuters reported. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin “welcomed their readiness”. The development comes as persistent efforts by US President Donald Trump to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine have failed to bear any fruit so far.
The camaraderie between what some analysts called the “power trio” – Modi, Xi, Putin – was visible during the BRICS Summit. The most striking image was that of the three leaders smiling and holding hands on Day 1 of the summit. It not only highlighted the rapport among the leaders but also sent a message of unity amid a fractured global order.
WHY IT MATTERS?
The fact that Russia has welcomed PM Modi’s help to facilitate peace talks is not new. However, it is not a small deal either, coming as the US struggles to find a way to revive stalled talks between Russia and Ukraine.
The timing is crucial, as Russia prepares for its first parliamentary election (September 18-20) since the launch of the Ukraine conflict. The United Russia party, backed by Putin, is most likely to retain its dominance in Parliament.
Just days ago, Trump spoke with Putin on the phone, calling for a swift end to the war in Ukraine. The US President stressed that it would allow US-Russia ties to be fully restored, Reuters reported.
The call followed a weekend visit to Moscow and Kyiv by US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner (who is also Trump’s son-in-law) to find a way to end the fighting, which has dragged on for nearly five years now. The diplomacy, however, did not result in any tangible breakthrough.
On the other hand, India has emerged as a major potential bridge in engaging the two countries. India, in fact, is among a few countries that have working ties with both Russia and Ukraine.
“India has the rare ability to talk to Moscow, Tehran and the West all at once. That access is real,” Srinivaasan Balakrishnan, a director at the Indic Researchers Forum think tank, told South China Morning Post.
Over the last few years, India, which depends heavily on discounted oil from Russia for its energy needs, has made several similar pleas to Putin since Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Last month, during their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the SCO Summit in Bishkek, Modi had urged Putin to move from “endless war” to “end of war”. “Every day spent in war pushes humanity back,” the Prime Minister told the Russian President.
It was a more assertive tone by PM Modi. In 2022, PM Modi told Putin publicly during the SCO Summit that “today’s era is not an era of war”.
On Friday, during another round of bilateral meetings, Modi told Putin that “dialogue and diplomacy” was “the way forward in resolving conflicts” and that India stands “ready to assist in peace efforts”.
Previously, the Kremlin has said that India’s position on Ukraine broadly corresponds with Russia’s position.
“We know India’s position, and to a great extent… it corresponds with our own position, because we do want the resolution of the Ukrainian conflict by peaceful means and Russia is open to this process,” the Kremlin previously said.
Meanwhile, the first face-to-face meeting between Putin and UKraine’s Zelensky since the war began could happen as early as December this year during the G20 Summit. Zelensky has said he was ready to travel to Miami for the summit if Putin attends it.
