India’s Modi visits Russia: As it happened

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has wrapped up his visit to Moscow for the 22nd bilateral summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Modi arrived in the Russian capital on Monday, after which he had informal talks with the Russian leader at his official residence near Moscow.

On Tuesday, Putin and Modi held closed door talks, as well as delegation-level discussions in the Kremlin. The two sides have discussed prospects for further development of Russian-Indian relations, with a focus on economic cooperation across sectors, including oil and gas, nuclear energy, fertilizers, space and research.

Around ten out of the 35-50 Indian citizens who were lured to the Ukraine conflict zone to fight alongside the Russian military have been repatriated with help of Russian officials, according to New Delhi’s foreign secretary, Vinay Mohan Kwatra.    

Prime Minister Narendra Modi “very strongly” raised the issue during his visit to Moscow, and insisted that the rest of the Indians in the warzone be rescued “as early as possible,” the diplomat noted.    

According to Indian media reports, several dozen Indians were lured to the battlefront by human traffickers, who offered them lucrative jobs. Last month, New Delhi announced that two Indian nationals had been killed, and urged its citizens to “exercise caution.”

People in India have reacted enthusiastically to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Russia. Those who spoke to RT from the capital of New Delhi, as well as people in Bengaluru and Karnataka, suggested that India and Moscow share a “special bond.” Some highlighted Russia’s defense cooperation with India. For several decades, Russia has been the South Asian nation’s largest supplier of arms. One person remarked that Modi’s visit is a “positive sign” for both nations and that ties would continue to improve.

During Narendra Modi’s state visit to Moscow, a dozen bilateral documents were signed, according to Indian Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra.  

The diplomat stated that while the joint statement covers a range of areas, the countries have also agreed on cooperation in the Far East region of Russia, as well as engagement between arbitration bodies, cooperation on combating climate change, polar and oceanic research, and promoting mutual investments. Additionally, the leaders of Russia and India agreed on a detailed program for economic cooperation until 2030.

Russia and India have agreed on a new trade target of $100 billion by 2030, Indian Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra told the media following high-level talks in the Kremlin. Previously, the leaders of the two countries had a target of $30 billion by 2025, which was surpassed by a significant margin during the last financial year.

In 2023, bilateral trade stood at $65 billion, having been driven by a surge in oil purchases. However, Indian exports to Russia stood at less than $5 billion, and both countries emphasized the importance of diversifying trade to make it more sustainable going forward.

Indians feel welcome in Russia, Udai Shankar, a member of the diaspora, has told RT. “It is not just the last few decades that Indians have been moving to Russia, it is actually a very ancient relationship,” said Shankar, who attended Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address to the diaspora in the afternoon. Shankar remarked that he had been given the opportunity to shake Modi’s hand – something he felt would not have been possible in India.

Modi has confirmed that he will travel to the BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan in October, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. He added that Putin and Modi’s talks focused, among other things, on the international agenda and cooperation within BRICS, the G20, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

Russia may sign a long-term deal with India to provide the South Asian country with a sustainable supply of crude oil, Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Novak has said.

Novak, who held the post of energy minister between 2012 and 2020, said Moscow and New Delhi were interested in a long-term partnership, which has already resulted in a joint oil refinery project.

Earlier, Manish Vaid, a junior fellow with the Observer Research Foundation, India’s primary think tank, suggested in a column for RT that New Delhi was also expected to negotiate for higher discounts on purchases of Russian resources.

Putin’s and Modi’s visit to the Rosatom exhibition in Moscow on Tuesday as a part of their bilateral summit program is a sign of strengthening cooperation in the nuclear energy field, according to Dr. Lydia Kulik, a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences.

The ‘energy bridge’ between the countries is not just the crude oil trade or Indian oil companies’ long-term investments in projects in Russia, including the Sakhalin-1 oilfied. Nuclear energy also plays an important role, the expert noted.

Putin and Modi have discussed in detail all the issues on their bilateral agenda, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. He noted that the two leaders exchanged views on the Ukraine conflict, adding that although the Indian prime minister does not intend to act as a mediator between Moscow and Kiev, he supports a peaceful settlement of the conflict.

The spokesman also noted that the deliberations have raised new ideas about the crisis, without providing further details.