Modi tells Putin, mourns strike on Ukraine children’s hospital

• Modi lands in Moscow as tensions flare in Europe over the war in Ukraine.
• The Indian PM discusses the conflict in detail with his Russian strongman.
• He tells Putin that peace talks cannot succeed amid bombs, guns, bullets.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday that “war cannot solve problems” and urged “peace through dialogue” on a trip to Moscow more than two years after the attack on Ukraine.

Modi landed in Moscow as tensions flared in Europe after a massive barrage of Russian missiles in Ukraine that Kiev 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 killed, one sees them die, the heart aches and that pain is unbearable,” Modi told Putin in comments in Hindi.

The Indian prime minister arrived in Moscow on Monday, hours after the raids hit cities across Ukraine and killed at least 38 people.

“I know war cannot solve problems, solutions and peace talks cannot succeed amidst bombs, guns and bullets,” the Indian leader added.

“And we have to find a way for peace through dialogue,” he said.

On Monday night, Modi was photographed hugging Putin at his country home, prompting 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 embrace the world’s bloodiest 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 “particularly privileged, strategic partnership”.

Putin thanked Modi for “the attention you pay to the most urgent problems” and said: “Try to find some ways to resolve the Ukrainian crisis, of course mainly by peaceful means.”

But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later told Russian news agencies that Modi “does not claim to be offering mediation efforts.”

Modi wrote in X that the talks were “productive” on “ways to diversify India-Russia cooperation in areas such as trade, commerce, security, agriculture, technology and innovation”.

Putin then presented Modi with the country’s top civilian medal, the Order of St. Andrew the First Apostle, and the leaders hugged again.

Russia is a vital supplier of low-cost oil and arms to India, but Moscow’s isolation from the West and growing ties with Beijing have affected its cooperation with New Delhi.

Modi has been courting closer security ties with the West since returning to power last month as leader of the world’s most populous country.

Western powers in recent years have also cultivated stronger ties with India as a counterweight to China and its growing influence in the Asia-Pacific region, while pressuring New Delhi to distance itself from Russia.

The US on Monday urged Modi to make it clear to Putin that “any solution to the conflict in Ukraine must … respect the UN Charter in relation to Ukraine’s territorial integrity”.

Modi last visited Russia in 2019 and hosted Putin in the Indian capital two years later, weeks before Russia launched its offensive against Ukraine.

India has largely avoided outright condemnation of Russia since then and has abstained from United Nations resolutions targeting the Kremlin.

Weapons and oil

But Russia’s fight with Ukraine has also come at a human cost to India.

New Delhi said in February it was pressing Moscow to return several of its citizens who had signed up for “support positions” in the Russian military, after reports that some had been killed after being forced to fight in Ukraine. Putin and Modi have not publicly commented on this.

New Delhi and Russia have maintained close ties since the Cold War, during which the Kremlin became a key arms supplier to the country.

However, Ukraine has cut off Russian arms supplies, prompting India to look to other sources for weapons – including developing its own defense industry.

Russia’s share of Indian arms imports has shrunk significantly in recent years, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

At the same time, India has become a major buyer of Russian crude, providing a much-needed export market for Russia after it was rejected by traditional buyers in Europe.

This has dramatically restructured their economic ties, with India saving billions of dollars while boosting Moscow’s war coffers.

India’s monthly imports of Russian crude “increased eight percent in May to the highest levels since July 2023,” according to commodity tracker data compiled by the Center for Energy and Clean Air Research.

But this also resulted in India’s trade deficit with Russia rising to just over $57 billion last fiscal year.

From Russia, Modi will travel to Vienna for the first visit by an Indian leader to the Austrian capital since Indira Gandhi in 1983.