Roving Periscope: Amid Russia-Ukraine war, PM Modi to skip Moscow visit

Virendra Pandit

New Delhi: As the ongoing Russian-Ukraine war continues to rage, Prime Minister Narendra Modi may skip the annual bilateral meeting with President Vladimir Putin this year because of “scheduling issues”, the media reported.

This key meeting usually takes place in the calendar year. Last year, they met in New Delhi in December. But this year, PM Modi’s last foreign engagement was the G20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia, in November. Now, with only 20 days remaining in 2022, there is no sign of the Modi-Putin meeting so far.

For over nine months of the inconclusive war, which began on February 24, New Delhi is walking a tightrope, trying to maintain a diplomatic balancing act between the two warring sides. On energy-hungry India continuing to buy Russian crude, Ukraine has already been criticizing New Delhi for helping Moscow ‘finance’ the war. The West and its allies have also been attempting to pressurize New Delhi.

The annual summit between the Indian Prime Minister and the Russian President is the highest institutionalized dialogue mechanism in the strategic partnership between the two countries.

So far, 21 annual summits have taken place since the year 2000, alternately in India and Russia. They held the last summit on December 6, 2021, in New Delhi. It was the Indian PM’s turn this year to attend the meeting in Moscow.

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions, the in-person summit between the two leaders could not take place in 2020. With 2022 almost coming to a close, this year too there will be no in-person summit.

PM Modi and President Putin had last met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit on September 16 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Modi had famously told Putin that “this is not an era for war”, something that was reflected in the G20 Bali Declaration in November as well.

Earlier this week, when the Winter Session began, External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar informed Parliament, “At Samarkand, Prime Minister Modi voiced global sentiment when he declared that this was not an era of war. His statement was in the context of the Ukraine conflict, where our advocacy of dialogue and diplomacy has been consistent and persistent. It has a larger resonance as well. We have also extended support on specific concerns, such as the supply of food grains and fertilizers, and the security of nuclear installations. The international community has broadly appreciated our position and finds reflection in the G20 Bali Declaration.”

According to media reports, PM Modi and President Putin have remained in touch through telephone conversations. Since February 24, they had four telephone conversations.

While India has not explicitly condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it has called for an international probe into the Bucha massacre and complained about the nuclear threats issued by Russian leaders.

At the UN Security Council as well, India has taken a nuanced position and abstained from voting against Russia in several resolutions since the war began.