TIANJIN, CHINA – At the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tianjin, China, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a cordial conversation on the side. PM Modi posted two images of the meeting on social media. One showed the leaders hugging each other closely, while the other showed them talking. The caption read, “Always a pleasure to meet President Putin!”
The fact that the two leaders are meeting is especially interesting because of the current state of world politics. It comes just a few days after US President Donald Trump put a huge 50% tax on Indian goods. Half of the taxes were put on India as a punishment for continuing to trade with Russia. The Trump administration, especially trade adviser Peter Navarro, has always said that India’s purchase of cheap Russian oil is bad because it helps support Russia’s war in Ukraine.
India has said that its energy transactions are based on market offers and national interests, not on political alignment. The meeting between Modi and Putin comes after a recent meeting between Trump and Putin in Alaska, where they talked about the war in Ukraine. Before that meeting, Trump said in public that Russia had “lost an oil client,” meaning India. New Delhi has since pushed back on this claim.
This is Prime Minister Modi’s first trip to China in seven years. His meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping was also a big step in improving relations between India and China. China is hosting the SCO summit, which has brought together leaders from India, China, Russia, and Pakistan, among others. The summit is a chance for these leaders to talk about a wide range of regional and global issues, even if a global trade war is on the horizon.