India, Russia shoulder to shoulder: PM

Meeting for the first time after the United States imposed 25% additional tariffs on India for Russian oil purchase, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday underlined "bilateral cooperation, including in the economic, financial and energy sectors".

- SHUBHAJIT ROY

The bilateral meeting came after a shared car ride as the two leaders left the SCO summit in Putin's vehicle.

Sources said Putin desired to travel with Modi to the hotel where the bilateral meeting was scheduled to be held, and waited for about 10 minutes for him. They spent another 45 minutes in the vehicle even after reaching the hotel, sources said. This was followed by the bilateral meeting, attended by senior officials from both sides, which went on for over an hour.

This was one of the longest meetings on the sidelines of a multilateral summit that Modi has had in his stint as the PM. "After the proceedings at the SCO Summit venue, President Putin and I travelled together to the venue of our bilateral meeting. Conversations with him are always insightful," Modi posted on X, with a photograph of the car ride.

Welcoming the recent efforts to bring the Ukraine war to an end, Modi told Putin that India hoped that all parties "shall proceed ahead constructively" — referring to the conversations between US President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Russian President.