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Russia’s Putin briefs PM Modi on rebellion by Wagner group, Ukraine situation
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also informed Russian President Vladimir Putin about his international trips, including his recent visit to the US
NEW DELHI: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the situation in Ukraine and last week’s mutiny by the Wagner group, with the Indian leader expressing support for Moscow’s actions to protect law and order.
Modi informed Putin about his international trips, including his recent visit to the US, and the two sides expressed satisfaction at “substantial growth” in bilateral trade since 2022, according to a readout from the Kremlin of a phone call between the leaders.
The phone conversation was the first contact between Modi and Putin since the short-lived rebellion by Wagner Private Military Company, the mercenary group led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, on June 24. It came a day after Putin hailed Modi as Russia’s “big friend” and cited India as an example of a country developing local manufacturing and wooing foreign investors while addressing a forum organised in Moscow by the Agency for Strategic Initiatives.
“In connection with the events of June 24 in Russia, Narendra Modi expressed understanding and support for the decisive actions of the Russian leadership to protect law and order, ensure stability in the country and the security of its citizens,” the Kremlin readout said in the context of the mutiny by the Wagner group.
An official statement from the Indian side said Putin informed Modi “about the recent developments in Russia” but didn’t give details. “While discussing the situation in Ukraine, PM reiterated his call for dialogue and diplomacy,” the statement added.
The Kremlin readout said Putin “gave his assessment of the current state of affairs in the special military operation zone” in Ukraine and stressed Kyiv’s “utter refusal to undertake political and diplomatic steps to resolve the conflict”.
India has not publicly censured Russia for the invasion of Ukraine, though it has called for respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states. At a meeting on the margins of a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Uzbekistan last September, Modi had told Putin that “today’s era is not of war” and nudged him to end the fighting in view of the worldwide economic fallout of the Ukraine crisis.
The Kremlin said the phone conversation was held at the initiative of the Indian side and the two leaders underscored the importance of “consistent implementation of the major joint projects in various areas” while discussing bilateral cooperation. They expressed satisfaction at the “substantial growth in trade throughout 2022 and in the first quarter of this year”, the readout added.
Putin and Modi also discussed interaction within the SCO and G20, for which India currently holds the presidency, and in the Brics (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) format. Modi informed Putin about “his international contacts, including ones during his recent visit to Washington”, the readout said.
The Kremlin described the conversation as “substantiative and constructive” and the leaders “reaffirmed their mutual intention to strengthen the special and privileged strategic partnership between Russia and India”.
On Thursday, Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of Russia’s Security Council, briefed National Security Adviser Ajit Doval on the rebellion by the Wagner group during a phone call. They also discussed cooperation in the field of security and prospects for deepening this within bilateral and multilateral formats.
While addressing the annual forum of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives on Thursday, Putin held up India as a model for local manufacturing and wooing foreign investments. He was speaking in the context of opportunities available to Russian companies in the wake of Western sanctions imposed because of the war in Ukraine.
“Our friends in India and our big friend, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, launched the ‘Make in India’ initiative several years ago. It has had a truly impressive effect on the Indian economy. It would do no harm to emulate what is working well, even if it was not us but our friends who created it,” he said.
Putin referred to India while discussing the need for Russia to “offer support tools to help our companies market their products more efficiently”. Russia needs to think about “making our products more convenient and functional, with a modern look and properties”, he said.
The “Make in India” initiative, launched in 2014, targets 25 sectors such as automobiles, textiles, pharmaceutical products, electronics and renewable energy. The government has focused on the initiative to ramp up local manufacturing capabilities by using tenchnology transfers.
Russia has offered to transfer technology for manufacturing defence items under the “Make in India” initiative, including the joint production of 500,000 AK-203 assault rifles at a facility at Amethi in Uttar Pradesh.
India has stepped up purchases of discounted Russian crude since the start of the Ukraine war. Russia has now displaced traditional suppliers of energy such as Saudi Arabia and Iraq, with Indian imports of Russian crude rising nearly 13-fold to be worth $31 billion during 2022-23, as against $2.5 billion in 2021-22.
However, the Russian side has expressed concern about Indian payments in rupees piling up. Both sides have also been trying to address the trade imbalance.
