Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi told the president Russia Vladimir Poutine this is not the time for war.
This was conveyed on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in the Uzbekistan city of Samarkand on Friday (9/16).
reported from AFP, New Delhi and Moscow have had a long-standing relationship since the Cold War. Russia is by far India’s largest arms supplier.
However, in their first face-to-face meeting since troops from Moscow invaded Ukraine, Modi told Putin: “Your Majesty, I know that today is not the time for war. “.
India has avoided explicitly blaming Russia for the Russian invasion of Ukraine that sent oil and other commodity prices skyrocketing.
But he stressed the importance of “democracy, diplomacy and dialogue” during the meeting on the sidelines of the SCO summit. They will discuss “how to move forward on the path to peace”, Modi added, according to local Indian television Doordashan quoted by AFP.
“I know your position in the conflict in Ukraine, your concerns… We will do our best to end it as soon as possible,” Putin said in response to Modi’s statement.
However, Putin added that Ukraine’s leadership had rejected negotiations “and said they wanted to achieve their goals by military means, on the battlefield.”
On Thursday, Putin met Chinese President Xi Jinping and acknowledged that his main ally, Beijing, also had “concerns” about the conflict.
Besides arms, India is a big consumer of Russian oil. They increase discount purchases after the Western oil embargo
(afp/sfr)
