Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Russia was not intended to produce spectacular results. This is largely because the visit took place within days of the conclusion of the general election in India, followed by Modi’s swearing-in for his new term, his preoccupation with forming a new government, and acrimonious debates in Parliament. Modi made a foray to the G7 summit in Italy almost immediately after assuming office for a third consecutive term. There would not have been enough time for intensive work beforehand to finalize major new outcomes.

Nevertheless, the two sides signed nine agreements on cooperation apart from the joint statement.

The intention of the bilateral summit was to take stock of ties and offer solutions for how to give them more impetus, as well as discuss how to overcome the hurdles that have arisen because of the draconian sanctions placed on Russia, particularly on the financial front. Another pressing matter was how to consolidate the recent gains in bilateral trade while addressing the issue of the highly skewed trade balance against India.

Exchanging views on the agenda of the BRICS summit that Russia will be chairing later this year was also important.

Putin’s perspective on ending the conflict in Ukraine that is pitting Russia against the US and G7 as whole and has resuscitated Cold War-type tensions and adversely affected the Global South was of great interest to Modi.

The main outcome of the visit is the visit itself – Russia being chosen as the destination for Modi’s first bilateral venture abroad so soon after his re-election. This sent a strong signal to Russia of the importance India attaches to its ties with Russia. It was also a message to the West that New Delhi will not yield to undue pressure to dilute its ties with Moscow.

The visit provided a much needed opportunity to have an in-depth discussion personally with Putin. The format of the summit provided for extensive one-to-one talks between the leaders without aides. As it happened, the talks over dinner at Putin’s private residence lasted four and a half hours and the one-to-one talks two and a half hours.

Some Western foreign policy experts have expressed outrage on social media at Modi embracing Putin as well as the timing of the bilateral summit coinciding with the NATO summit in Washington D.C. , while the visit has also elicited some official comments from the US.

The State Department together with White........

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