Modi calls for quick end to Ukraine conflict in talks with Putin

AFP | Kazan, Russia                                         

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Email:editor@newsobahrain.com

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he wanted the Ukraine conflict to be resolved “quickly” and peacefully as he met President Vladimir Putin at a summit of major emerging economies yesterday.

Putin is hosting around 20 world leaders including Modi and China’s Xi Jinping at the three-day BRICS gathering, an event he hopes will demonstrate Western attempts to isolate Moscow over its Ukraine offensive have failed.

“We have been in constant touch over the conflict between Russia and Ukraine,” Modi told Putin after the two shook hands and embraced.

“We believe that disputes should only be resolved peacefully. We totally support efforts to quickly restore peace and stability,” the Indian leader added. Putin praised what he called Russia and India’s “privileged strategic partnership”, and vowed to build ties further.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who has also urged an end to the conflict, praised Moscow as a “valued ally” and friend in his meeting with Putin.

“We continue to see Russia as a valued ally, as a valued friend, who supported us right from the beginning: from the days of our struggle against Apartheid, right through to now,” Ramaphosa said.

The summit, held amidst tight security in the city of Kazan, is the biggest international event in Russia since Moscow’s Ukraine offensive began in 2022.

Putin also met Chinese leader Xi on Tuesday, ahead of separate talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will meet Putin on Thursday, in his first trip to the country since April 2022.

Among issues on the agenda will be Putin’s idea for a BRICS-led payment system to rival SWIFT, an international financial network that Russian banks were cut off from in 2022, as well as the escalating conflict in the Middle East.