PM Modi, Vladimir Putin travel together for bilateral talks after SCO summit

4 months ago

After the SCO leaders’ meeting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin traveled together in the same car to the Ritz-Carlton in Tianjin, China, for their bilateral talks.

Transcript

00:00A lot of personal bonhomie that we have seen, the personal chemistry between the two leaders is well known here.

00:06Geeta, we have that image on our screens.

00:09Let's go full frame with that picture that we have now of Prime Minister Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin

00:19who are now traveling in the same car to the destination of their bilateral meeting.

00:24This bilateral meeting is of very important nature given how significant it is,

00:33given the backdrop of India being punished, punitive tariffs, almost 25% being imposed on India

00:40because India bought crude oil from Russia.

00:44Prime Minister Modi essentially highlighting the two leaders choosing to highlight and tell the West

00:50that this is an all-weather friendship here, Geeta, a friendship which has weathered many storms

00:57and how Russia and India have stood firmly with each other.

01:02Well, on a lighter note, Maria, it's like the two leaders are carpooling, saying,

01:06OK, we have to go to the same destination, might as well sit in one car.

01:10That's a good way of analyzing it, actually.

01:13And they're headed to Ritz Carlton, which is where they're going to hold that meeting.

01:17But this picture was taken just moments ago, so in some time you will be seeing the first pictures come

01:24of the big meeting between President Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

01:29This is significant.

01:30It is going to be a very important one, like I have been saying it,

01:33because this comes after all the backlash that India has received from the White House,

01:39from President Trump for having bought Russian oil at the time

01:44when Russia really needed a friend, India stood by Russia, India stood by President Putin.

01:51So, yeah, we'll have to wait and see what comes of this meeting

01:55and how they're looking at resolving this entire crisis.

02:00One important way of resolving the crisis, Maria, again, would be

02:04if President Putin and President Zelensky come to the talking table,

02:07negotiate terms and conditions, and find peace, lasting peace,

02:12not temporary ceasefire, because that's the only way that President Trump will then have

02:18the honor of having actually mediated peace between two countries rather than the one

02:26that he claims to have, which is India-Pakistan.

02:28But he'll actually have the honor of having mediated peace between two very important

02:34countries that have been fighting for a very, very long time.

02:38This war did not begin with the operation or the invasion of Russia into Ukraine recently.

02:46It is long before that, when America continued meddling in Ukraine and Russia affairs,

02:52the NATO card that always was dangled to Ukraine, and now Russia and Ukraine,

03:01Ukraine realizing that they're never going to be a part of NATO,

03:03and Russia making that a clear red line.

03:05Trump, the United States of America, accepting it rather than pushing Ukraine into that war,

03:12into that conflict that the U.S. always did for decades.

03:16So the immediate resolution would be, and a sigh of relief for India would be,

03:21if Putin and Zelensky can find peace, because that certainly will change how the geopolitical

03:29dynamics are working today.

03:30White House will look at Russia very differently.

03:32Obviously, engagements will begin again.

03:35Maybe some of the sanctions will be off.

03:37And India will not have to go through this entire rigmarole of what percentage of tariff now

03:44against India.

03:45Yes, and India-Russia ties, remember, have been marked by deep, enduring partnership across

03:51defense, energy, economics and diplomatic spheres, which have been underpinned by strong

03:56historical and strategic cooperation, and that is something which is on display here in that

04:03image which has come in now.

04:05Let me bring in Gaurav Savant.

04:07Gaurav, it's been a partnership, dialogue, an equation, a relationship of decades,

04:17something that we see play out between Prime Minister Modi and Vladimir Putin,

04:20even as they carpool to the destination of the meeting.

04:29So it's at a super luxury five-star hotel here in Tianjin, the Ritz-Carlton, where the

04:34Russian president is staying, where this meeting is taking place.

04:37But the fact that the two left together and left in the same car is a very important signal.

04:42The warm hug that you and I were talking about when President Putin and Prime Minister Narendra

04:47Modi met, and they walked hand in hand together.

04:50So, you know, there are many signals here that both India and Russia together are sending out

04:55to those who say, this is Modi's war, and why isn't Modi, he's a good guy, and, you know,

05:01that patronizing attitude of those close to the White House, Peter Navarro et al, you know,

05:08when they say that he's a good guy, but why is he friends with Putin, or why is he friends

05:13with the dictator?

05:14This is India's response to those people, that we don't need Western validation on who

05:20our friends are, and who our friends have actually stood by India through thick and thin.

05:25The Russian-Indian partnership, and I'm not even taking you back to 1971, when the Americans

05:29sent in the 7th Fleet, and the Russian fleet then came in India's defense, or the two divisions

05:35that Russians had on China's northern borders at that point of time, in the 1970s.

05:41I'm not even going back into history, or 1999, when Russian T-90 tanks were taken out of the

05:47Russian army inventory and sent to India, post-Kargil, when there was anticipation or apprehension

05:53that the war could escalate to another sector, and India wanted a mightier armor thrust.

05:59But this is a relationship that's withstood the test of time.

06:02The fact that India is a nuclear submarine-operating country, INS Chakra first came from Russia.

06:10The technology, the kind of technology Russia has shared with India, no other country is

06:15willing to share that kind of technology with India.

06:18The BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, that was a game-changer in Operation Sindur on the

06:23S-400.

06:25Though it's a missile defense shield, it was used in an offensive role to bring down a Pakistani

06:30AVAX, some 324 kilometers deep inside Pakistan.

06:35All of that show how India and Russia operate so closely together, and it's a friendship

06:40that's withstood the test of time.

06:43And this is a signal, both from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and from Russian President Vladimir

06:48Putin.

06:48Not only do they walk hand in hand, they drive together to the same hotel, in the same car,

06:53and then the meeting that will take place at the Ritz Carlton.

06:56So many, many important signals here for those who want to pontificate.

07:00And if they want to escalate further, they may feel free to do so.

07:04But India does not kowtow either to the west or to the east.

07:08India stands firm is the message that India is sending out.

PM Modi, Vladimir Putin travel together for bilateral talks after SCO summit

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended