The interrupted visit. Why did the Indian Prime Minister leave Moscow in a hurry and what does Ukraine have to do with it?

Recently, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a two-day visit to Moscow and held various meetings with Putin during this visit.

Vladimir Zelensky reacted to the incident quite emotionally. “A Russian missile hit Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital, targeting young cancer patients. Many were trapped under the rubble. It is a great disappointment and a heavy blow to peace efforts to see the leader of the world’s largest democracy embrace the world’s deadliest criminal. Moscow on such a day,” the president wrote on the X social network.

The US response to Narendra Modi’s visit to Russia, where he said “India and Russia are working side by side to inject new energy into global prosperity”, was also critical.

In particular, the head of the US State Department’s press service, Matthew Miller, noted, as quoted by Reuters: “We have made it quite clear to India that we are concerned about its relations with Russia.” According to him, Washington hopes that India, like other countries, will convey to Moscow “the need to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” when communicating with the Russian side“.

Matthew Miller also admitted that the American administration maintained contacts with the Indian side regarding Narendra Modi’s visit to Moscow for 24 hours while the Indian Prime Minister was in the Russian capital. He did not disclose the content of these contacts, but some Russian media reported: Narendra Modi cuts short Russia visit prematurely .

Meanwhile, Pentagon Spokesperson Patrick Ryder was forced to admit that India and Russia have “maintained relations for a very long time” and hence Washington can only discuss this issue with the Indian side. “India is a strategic partner for us and we continue to have full and open dialogue even on its relations with Russia,” he said.

Summing up the conversation between Modi and Putin, Bloomberg notes that attempts to isolate Russia are becoming an increasingly difficult task for the US. Bloomberg concludes that Modi’s visit to Moscow caused extreme discomfort in Washington.

In contrast, as the Washington Post noted, Indian PM’s Moscow visit strengthens Vladimir Putin’s position on world stageWP quotes Pankaj Saran, India’s former ambassador to Moscow, as saying: “Modi’s decision to visit Moscow at the start of his new term as prime minister shows that India continues to invest in relations with Russia and that this is an integral part of Indian foreign policy.”

Why Russia-Ukraine war is not a warning signal for India

Political scientist Viktor Nebozhenko noted that India, like China, has “learned to make money from our grief” by helping Russia, especially by buying its oil. “Both Beijing and New Delhi are involved in financing this. But if we come to them tomorrow and tell them that this cannot be done, then they will realize that they have nothing to do with all this, being extremely cynical and pragmatic men.”

According to him, Indians now have an extremely unusual situation in their relations with the Russian Federation.“India has purchased $40 billion worth of oil from Russia in the last three years and has been actively using it in its industry. However, it is not clear how all this will be paid for as it is quite difficult to deal with dollars. They don’t have that many rubles, and Putin doesn’t want to accept rupees. So the Indians accept the debt, but they don’t want to pay it in dollars, which would be very beneficial for Russia, of course. I think, This was definitely the main topic of discussion between Modi and Putin“, says the expert in an interview: Focus.

Viktor Nebozhenko discusses another topic of dialogue between Indian and Russian leaders military-industrial sector, since Gandhi’s time India has received the most weapons from Russia.

But, according to the political scientist, there is another important but little-known nuance. “Once upon a time, young independent Ukraine sold four hundred tanks to India’s enemy, Pakistan. And since then, the Indians, I know this for sure, since I have been to this country seven or eight times, have stamped this fact. Therefore, we can be sure that there was no such understanding on the part of the Indians,” says Nebozhenko.

The expert also emphasizes that China does not like anyone but itself to mess with Russia.

“Meanwhile, the Russian press notes that one of the largest countries in the world, with a population of one and a half billion, instead of sanctions and embargoes, goes to Putin, perceiving him as an equal. Modi has pragmatic reasons for coming to Russia; oil and weapons, or to put pressure on Beijing, but the fact remains: India has clearly shown that it is not ready to share the European and American strategy of isolating the Russian Federation.“.

Modi’s Moscow visit a signal to China

Political scientist Vladimir Fesenko also believes that a full-scale war launched by Russia against Ukraine is not one of New Delhi’s priorities. Focus The expert stated: “India has its own and rather ambiguous position on this war. But the real uncertainty about Modi’s visit to Moscow is not for us but for China.. Meanwhile, China showed interest in this visit, which it did not like very much. And perhaps the so-called minor problems that Russian businesses are now experiencing when paying in yuan are a reflection of this visit. Meanwhile, it is obvious that this visit is a signal to China for both Modi and Putin. The Russian Federation thus shows that it is not that dependent on the PRC“It was also important for India to show that Russia would not unquestionably stand by China if the very difficult relations between New Delhi and Beijing deteriorated.”

Stressing that the current “special partnership” between India and the Russian Federation is not very organic, the political scientist added: “There are contradictions and issues here, especially regarding payments in rupees. Now both sides are looking at how to resolve this issue.” The contradictions in the Russia-India-China triangle are also obvious“Although all three countries are members of BRICS and SCO, there is no perfect friendship between them.”

Vladimir Fesenko, noting that Narendra Modi’s visit to Russia ended quickly and unexpectedly, noted that this could be a reaction to the Russian Armed Forces’ bombing of Kiev and the fall of the Okhmatdyt hospital.

“This was probably a reaction to the bombing of Kiev, especially Okhmatdyt.” Modi, meanwhile, voiced his critical assessment of what had happened, and Putin probably did not like it. And perhaps Modi realized that, against the background of the victims, the death of children was somehow undesirable as a demonstration of his friendship with Putin. “One way or another, the interruption of the visit, the reduction of the program and the lack of large-format negotiations leave a certain mystery. Something happened there…”

Stating that relations with Ukraine are no longer an important factor for India, Vladimir Fesenko emphasized: “Unfortunately, Let’s say there is no major economic motivation in relations between Kiev and New Delhi . So we still need to be very careful about developing relations with India. By the way, I know that a group of Indian businessmen working in Ukraine are not very happy with the small volume of bilateral trade and believe that this process should be moved towards qualitative changes. This is certainly true, but we should not forget that Modi is a very specific politician. He is a right-wing populist and not as democratic as some people think. Meanwhile, India is still a democratic country, and therefore we need to fight for India, we need to distance it from cooperation with Russia, so that there will be no serious gap between the West and the Global South.

The political scientist believes that the fight for India is extremely important and Modi’s not-so-successful visit to Moscow should be used to prevent India from falling into the close embrace of the Russian Federation.