Leaders of Russia and India have just
met on the sidelines of a key security
and economic summit that's being hosted
in China. Vladimir Putin and Narendra
Modi are amongst around 20 heads of
government who are attending the
Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit
in Tanzhin. China's President Xi called
on them to oppose what he called the
cold war mentality. The remarks will be
intended to send a message to the United
States which has imposed steep import
taxes on India as a punishment for
buying Russian oil. India accuses the
West of hypocrisy for buying fuel
through third countries. Prime Minister
Modi on Monday though has said to the
Russian President Vladimir Putin that it
is humanity's call to end the Ukraine
conflict as soon as possible. In opening
televised remarks, Mr. Modi said they
welcomed all recent efforts to bring
peace to Ukraine and hope that all the
relevant sides will move forward
constructively.
Let's go to our China correspondent
Steven McDonald who's in Tanzhen and
Deina Gupta who's in Delhi for us.
Stephen just first of all just bring us
up to date on on what has been said by
the various leaders and the significance
of this huge gathering.
Well, Xiinping would argue that the
Shanghai Cooperation Organization is
becoming more and more significant every
time it meets. This has been the biggest
such gathering. He said that there was
now $30 trillion in trade between the
member states. And it's interesting,
it's moving from an organization which
was just focused on security matters to
one which now is also delving into areas
involving trade. Xiinping today he spoke
about the need to set up a new
development bank for example under the
SEO umbrella. Now economists will argue
as to whether the world needs another
development bank but it just shows h
where this body is actually moving and
crucially he spoke about
multilateralism. Now when he speaks
about multilateralism and how important
it is and how this body is all about it,
the contrast is meant to be with the
United States and the Chinese government
would say that under Donald Trump, the
US is going it alone with its America
first policies, with its chaotic tariffs
and the the contrast he would he would
say is with this body and with China
saying that they can offer stability, a
more certain world and bring about
development in a calm and constructive
At least that's the messaging and
certainly the symbolism when that photo
goes around the world with Xiinping and
all those other leaders. You know, you
got the likes of Saudi Arabia and Iran,
India and Pakistan, Turkey also a NATO
member by the way, Indonesia, Malaysia,
lots of these countries and Russia all
together and leaving the US out. will uh
people will wonder where this leaves the
US in terms of it its stance uh you know
in in the world uh given that Xiinping
can pull together this desperate group
of pretty powerful countries in the
region
>> and Deina Gupta how significant is it
that Narendra Modi is there we have seen
US tensions between India and the US
over tariffs but also over uh Kashmir
Yeah.
>> Yes. An Angita, this is Prime Minister
Modi's first visit to China in 7 years
after dispute between India and China
along the Himalayan border. Uh the last
of which was in 2020 where soldiers were
killed on both the sides. So uh Prime
Minister Modi met Chinese President Xi
Jinping on Sunday. Both sides talked
about trade and more cooperation
including ease of visa restrictions,
resuming direct flight between two
countries. So that's significant. But I
think one of the more significant
moments of this uh summit has been his
bilateral meeting with Russian President
Vladimir Putin. Both leaders put on a
very public show of camaraderie where
they were seeing hugging. Uh they were
also sharing the same car from the
summit venue to their bilateral venue
and in a 50-minute conversation from the
Indian side we know that they talked
about economic and financial sectors and
more importantly the energy sector. Now
the US has accused India of buying
Russian crude and profitering from it.
It has also called India laundromat of
Kremlin. While India which buys 40% of
Russian crude has always maintained that
it is for its own people. India imports
most of its fuel and oil prices are
quite sensitive uh politically for Prime
Minister Modi. So he has to keep them
low. uh this particular show of uh uh
camaraderie between Russia and India is
winning him points back home. He was
under a lot of pressure from businesses
after the deal between two countries did
not work out and those steep tariffs of
50% steepest in Asia were pushed on
India and now with this bonham between
China, India and Russia, Mr. Modi is
showing that he cannot be pushed into a
corner by the US and is answering back
and that's what his supporters are
saying. Uh we do know that India has not
stopped buying Russian crude for now. So
the ball is in the US court. India says
that it has its own regional alliances
that it's working on. It's looking for
new markets with China and it's not
unwilling to mend fences where needs to
be to counter the US tariff threats. And
Stephen McDonald, if China and India
were to become closer again, what would
that mean? Because that there have been
border tensions in the past.
>> Yeah. Well, it's interesting on the
border tensions, Narendra Modi mentioned
that there had been this meeting of
representatives from both countries to
work out a mechanism to stop those
deadly clashes in this disputed area in
the remote mountains between the two. So
I mean they would say that this system's
now in place and there won't be uh this
type of thing happening and Xiinping
mentioned this as a sort of broader goal
of the SECO now that all countries
should try and stop such border
tensions.
The Indian leader also spoke about
direct flights between India and China.
I I think many people if you're not
Indian or Chinese will be surprised to
know that there hadn't been direct
flights between these countries. But it
just shows how bad relations had been
with no tourism between the two. Student
interactions, academic, scientific
interaction, and crucially business
interaction. If you're going to increase
all of that, you need flights. And that
now that they're going to get flights
going again. Well, I suppose people
would say it's a step in the right
direction. But there's been a lot of bad
blood between them. So, it will take a
lot to sort of build up the connections.
However, again, in the words of Narendra
Modi, it 2.8 8 billion people are
counting on them being able to sit down
and cooperate with one another and
obviously if they can if China and India
could increase their economic activity
well the potential would be absolutely
massive.
>> Steven McDonald and Deina Gup thank you
both very much indeed.
>> Well Vladimir Putin has used the
conference to reiterate his stance on
the war on Ukraine. Let's speak to our
correspondent Sarah Reignsford who's in
Kiev. Sarah, how have his remarks gone
down there?
>> Yeah, I mean nothing new in a sense from
Vladimir Putin. Uh
stressing his key uh arguments that he
claims that the war was not of his
making but of the west's making. Uh
obviously that is not true. Uh this was
a war of po of choice for Vladimir
Putin. But he is saying that he welcomes
China and India in their efforts to
bring it to an end. But but underlining
again that as far as he's concern
concerned that has to be on his terms.
So a totally maximalist position from
Russia even though of course a couple of
weeks ago we saw that summit uh Vladimir
Putin greeted on the red carpet in
Alaska by Donald Trump and supposedly
some kind of understanding there reached
about how to bring this war here in
Ukraine to an end. But there has been no
real substantial progress on that and
Vladimir Putin quite clearly uh has
shifted no ground at all. So I think a
lot of skepticism here in Ukraine that
we're any closer uh to this war being
done and of course uh you know the air
raids continue the missile and drone
attacks continue the war on the ground
particularly in the east of Ukraine
continues and it is brutal. So, as far
as Ukraine is concerned, you know,
pretty hollow words when they hear
Vladimir Putin talking about the causes
of this war and the uh chances of peace
and and Sarah, what's the battlefield
strength of of Moscow and Kiev at the
moment as far as we know?
Well, you know, I think looking at this
meeting taking place in Shanghai, it is
really interesting to see Vladimir Putin
on that stage and really uh looking to
the symbolism of those meetings that
he's holding being hosted by China,
meeting the Indian leader and really
foregrounding those relationships. Of
course, this is Vladimir Putin saying,
"Look, I have friends, I have allies, I
have strength and those countries,
whilst not directly supporting his war
in Ukraine, are supporting the Russian
economy." And that is absolutely vital
of course for Russia's ability to
continue prosecuting its war here on the
ground in Ukraine. So this is Vladimir
Putin saying look I'm still in the game.
This is my game. These are my rules. And
and of course in Ukraine that goes down
extremely badly. There has been this
sense that Vladimir Putin wants to uh
tell the world and tell Donald Trump in
particular in the United States that
Russia is winning this war. He wants
them to believe that there is progress
on the east on the battlefield along
that front line. Ukraine is saying that
they have stopped the latest adv
advances in the Donbass around Parroska
very important uh fighting hub at the
moment but of course the fighting does
continue it is brutal it is prolonged
and as I say here the mood generally in
Kiev is that they don't see any time to
any any end to it anytime soon
>> Sarah Rainford in Kiev many thanks