Modi tells Putin ‘dialogue and diplomacy’ only way forward on Ukraine

Friday’s call between New Delhi and Moscow seem indicative of India’s public balancing act on Ukraine conflict

India’s prime minister Narendra Modi has told Vladimir Putin that “dialogue and diplomacy” are the only way forward for Russia on the war in Ukraine.

Mr Modi and the Russian president spoke on the phone on Friday, a statement from the Indian PM’s office said. “In the context of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, the prime minister reiterated his call for dialogue and diplomacy as the only way forward,” his office said.

The readout of Friday’s call between New Delhi and Moscow seemed indicative of India’s public balancing act between doing business with Moscow while consistently abstaining from UN Security Council resolutions calling on Russia to cease hostilities in Ukraine and at the same time showing that it was not in favour of the conflict.

Last week, it was reported that Mr Modi would skip an annual summit to highlight Indo-Russian relations. In September, speaking at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, Mr Modi publicly berated Mr Putin by saying “today’s era is not an era of war”.

The Indian side, however, pointed out in its statement about the Friday telephone call that the countries shared a “privileged strategic partnership” and said they looked forward to working together during New Delhi’s chairing of the next SCO summit next year.

This comes just days after Russia emerged as India’s top oil supplier, unseating Iraq from the pole position, with overall consumption by India rising for the fifth straight month.

Ukraine, for its part, has criticised India’s leadership, with foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba saying the invasion had been used as an “opportunity” to buy cheap Russian oil at the expense of the Ukrainian people.

“The opportunity for India to buy Russian oil at a cheap price comes from the fact that Ukrainians are suffering from Russian aggression and dying every day,” Mr Kuleba told NDTV.

Mr Modi and Mr Putin agreed to remain in regular touch with each other, the statement from Mr Modi’s office said.

It added that the two leaders reviewed several aspects of India and Russia’s relationship, including energy cooperation, trade and investments, defence and security cooperation that were discussed on the sidelines of the Samarkand summit.

Mr Modi also briefed the Russian federation’s president on India’s ongoing presidency of the G20, highlighting its key priorities.

India’s total oil imports from Russia surged to 908,000 barrels per day (bpd) in November, up four per cent from the previous month, according to data by trade sources.

Russian oil imports accounted for about 23 per cent of India’s overall incoming trade of about 4 million bpd in November, data showed.

India is now Russia’s second biggest oil client after China, having previously rarely used Moscow’s oil due to costly logistics. These dramatically accelerated oil imports threaten to undermine the G7 price cap on Russian oil, and have been strongly criticised by India’s Western allies.

India’s leadership, however, has consistently rebuffed Western pressure on the issue.