Moscow preparing for likely visit by Modi, says Putin aide

In what could be his first visit since the Ukraine war began, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to travel to Moscow in the coming weeks to hold bilateral talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin under the much-delayed annual summit mechanism that has been in place since 2000, but suspended for the past few years.

“I can confirm that we are preparing a visit by the Prime Minister of India,” Kremlin official and Presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said, according to Russian state-owned RIA Novosti news agency, adding that he could not reveal dates for the visit until they were agreed upon by both sides. “But we are actively making preparations, and this visit will happen,” he said.

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The Russian agency said that preparations were being made for Mr. Modi’s visit to the country in “early July”.

The External Affairs Ministry declined to comment on the possible visit, and no confirmation of Mr. Ushakov’s statement was made by the government.

Mr. Modi is also due to visit Russia in October as Mr. Putin plans to host the extended 10-member BRICS Summit in Kazan.

The plans for a bilateral meet with Mr. Putin are significant as Mr. Modi decided last week to cancel plans to travel to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council meeting to be held in Astana, Kazakhstan on July 3 and 4, where Mr. Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and leaders of Iran and Central Asian states are due to attend.

On Tuesday, Mr. Modi is understood to have conveyed to Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev that he would not be able to attend the SCO Summit, where India has been a full member since 2017.

“Prime Minister conveyed India’s full support for the success of the upcoming SCO Summit in Astana, and expressed confidence that Kazakhstan’s leadership would greatly contribute to the furtherance of regional cooperation,” the External Affairs Ministry said in a press release that ostensibly did not refer to any plans for travel by Mr. Modi, adding only that “the two leaders agreed to remain in touch”.

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While no formal reasons have been provided for the Prime Minister’s decision not to attend the SCO Summit, sources had pointed to the ongoing Parliament session requiring his presence, given the ruling party’s reduced numbers and a strengthened Opposition’s attacks on the government. In addition, some have pointed to New Delhi’s growing discomfort with China’s domination of the SCO narrative, as well as the awkward photo opportunities necessitated by the SCO summit events where Mr. Modi is seen alongside the Chinese and Pakistani leadership while there are no direct high-level contacts between them.

PM Modi’s visit is ‘very important’, say Russian experts

If Mr. Modi travels to Moscow in July, shortly after the Parliament session ends, it would also break with past precedent for Indian Prime Ministers to make their first bilateral visit in the neighbourhood.

Mr. Modi’s first visit abroad in this tenure was to Italy for the G-7 Outreach Summit on June 14.

In 2014, his first bilateral visits were to Bhutan and Nepal, while in 2019, his first visits after the election were to the Maldives and Sri Lanka. In this term, the first incoming bilateral visit was by Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina last week.

However, Mr. Modi’s visit to Russia, one of India’s closest strategic partners, is also long overdue. He last visited Moscow in 2015. In 2019, Mr. Modi travelled to Vladivostok, after which the pandemic led to a hiatus in annual in-person meetings.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, New Delhi has refused to criticise Russia, or to cancel oil imports, but has put off all Modi-Putin annual summit meetings.

Mr. Modi cancelled plans to travel to Moscow in December 2022, even though External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had made visits to Russia to prepare for the visit.

In 2023, the government converted its turn to host an in-person SCO Summit, which would have brought Mr. Putin to Delhi, into a virtual summit.

Russian experts say PM Modi’s visit is “very important”, as it will signal an end to the “protracted pause” between the two leaders, who have spoken frequently on the phone, but not met since 2022. “Many issues have accumulated that require personal discussions between the two leaders — from the rapid growth in [India-Russia] trade turnover to the geopolitical situation in the world,” Head of the Centre for Indo-Pacific Region at the Primakov National Research Institute at the Russian Academy of Sciences (IMEMO), Alexey Kupriyanov told The Hindu.