Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin leave together in a car for the venue of their bilateral meeting after attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit in Tianjin, China on September 1, 2025. Photo: X/@narendramodi via PTI
Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday (September 1, 2025) and stressed the need to expedite a ceasefire in Ukraine.
Meeting after the heads of states’ summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Tianjin, the two leaders reaffirmed their support for strengthening the “special and privileged strategic partnership” between the two countries, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement, adding that Mr. Modi told Mr. Putin that he was looking forward to receiving the Russian leader for the 23rd India-Russia annual summit later this year.
Both leaders travelled together to the venue of the bilateral meeting after Monday (September 1, 2025) morning’s summit. “Conversations with him [Mr. Putin] are always insightful,” Mr. Modi said in a social media post with a photograph of them sharing a car. Russian state media reported that the leaders spoke one-on-one for almost an hour in the vehicle before sitting down for the meeting.
Indian sources said Mr. Putin wished to travel with Mr. Modi and waited for about 10 minutes so that the Prime Minister could join him. Both leaders travelled in Mr. Putin’s car conversing on various topics and spent another 45 minutes in the vehicle even after reaching the venue, they added.
“Had an excellent meeting with President Putin… Discussed ways to deepen bilateral cooperation in all sectors,” Mr. Modi said in a post after the meeting, adding that the leaders “exchanged views on regional and global developments including the peaceful resolution of the conflict in Ukraine”.
At the meeting, Mr. Putin addressed Mr. Modi as a “dear friend” and hailed Moscow’s ties with New Delhi as special, friendly, and trusting.
“Russia and India have maintained special relations for decades… this is the foundation for the development of our relations in the future,” Mr. Putin said.
On Ukraine, the Russian President said the eastward expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) should be addressed for sustainable peace in the region. “This crisis wasn’t triggered by Russia’s attack on Ukraine, but was a result of a coup in Ukraine, which was supported and provoked by the West,” Mr. Putin said in his address to the member states of the grouping.
“The second reason for the crisis is the West’s constant attempts to drag Ukraine into NATO,” he added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had spoken to Mr. Modi over the phone on Friday after his arrival in Tianjin for the summit and urged the Prime Minister to “deliver an appropriate signal” to Russia. Mr. Modi’s call for accelerated efforts for a ceasefire comes days after U.S. President Donald Trump, who hosted Mr. Putin in Alaska, dropped his demand for a ceasefire saying that Kyiv should make a deal to end war.
The meeting also came against the backdrop of U.S.’s 25% penalty on Indian goods imposed on top of 25% tariffs over India’s oil trade with Russia and several provocative remarks made by U.S. officials over the issue. However, the statement issued by the Ministry after the meeting mentioned bilateral cooperation while refraining from any mention of oil trade or U.S. tariffs. “The leaders discussed bilateral cooperation including economic, financial, and energy sectors” and “expressed satisfaction with the sustained growth” in relations in these areas, the Ministry said.
(The writer is in China at an invitation from the China Public Diplomacy Association)
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Published – September 01, 2025 12:49 pm IST