KAZAN, Russia: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he wanted the Ukraine conflict to be resolved peacefully and “quickly” as he met President Vladimir Putin at the BRICS summit in Russia on Tuesday.
The three-day gathering, held amidst tight security in the city of Kazan, is the biggest international event in Russia since the Ukraine conflict began in 2022, with Putin seeking to build an alliance aimed at challenging the West’s “hegemony.”
“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 hailed what he called Russia and India’s “privileged strategic partnership” and vowed to build ties further.
New Delhi has walked a diplomatic tightrope since the Ukraine conflict began, pledging humanitarian support for Kyiv while avoiding explicit condemnation of Russia’s offensive.
Modi visited Kyiv in August and Moscow in July in an effort to encourage talks, as India cast itself as a potential mediator.
Some two dozen other leaders are to attend the summit, including Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
The main issues on the agenda include 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, and the escalating conflict in the Middle East.
The Kremlin has touted the BRICS summit as a diplomatic triumph that shows Western attempts to isolate Moscow over the Ukraine conflict have failed.
The United States has dismissed the idea that BRICS could become a “geopolitical rival” but has expressed concern over Moscow flexing its diplomatic muscle as the Ukraine conflict rages.
Moscow has steadily advanced on the battlefield in eastern Ukraine this year while strengthening ties with China, Iran and North Korea — three of Washington’s adversaries.
By gathering BRICS leaders in Kazan, the Kremlin “aims to show that not only is Russia not isolated, it has partners and allies,” Moscow-based political analyst Konstantin Kalachev told AFP.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Putin in 2023 over the illegal deportation of children from Ukraine, and the Russian leader abandoned plans to attend the previous summit in ICC member South Africa.
This time, the Kremlin wants to show an “alternative to Western pressure and that the multipolar world is a reality,” Kalachev said, referring to Moscow’s efforts to shift power away from western nations.
In televised talks, Putin told Modi the leaders in Kazan “should take a number of important decisions, aimed at further improving the organization’s activities.”
Putin will also meet Xi and the leaders of South Africa and Egypt on Tuesday, followed by separate talks with Erdogan and Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is on his first trip to Russia since April 2022 to attend the summit. He will sit down with Putin on Thursday, according to the Kremlin, for talks that have been criticized by Kyiv.
Ahead of the summit, AFP journalists in Kazan reported heightened security and a visible police presence.
The surrounding Tatarstan region, which is some 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from the border with Ukraine, has previously been hit by long-range Ukrainian drone attacks.
Movement around the city center is being limited, residents advised to stay home, and university students moved out of dormitories, local media reported.
The West believes Russia is using BRICS to expand its influence and promote its own narratives about the Ukraine conflict.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned other countries could feel emboldened if Putin wins on the battlefield in Ukraine.
Starting with four members when it was established in 2009, BRICS has since expanded to include other emerging nations such as South Africa, Egypt and Iran.
But the group is rife with internal divisions, including between key members India and China.
Turkiye, a NATO member with complex ties to Moscow and the West, announced in September that it wanted to join the bloc.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva canceled a planned trip to the summit at the last minute after suffering a head injury that caused a minor brain hemorrhage.
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Modi calls for quick end to Ukraine conflict in meeting with Putin
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Modi calls for quick end to Ukraine conflict in meeting with Putin
- ‘We believe that disputes should only be resolved peacefully. We totally support efforts to quickly restore peace and stability’
- Narendra Modi visited Kyiv in August and Moscow in July in an effort to encourage talks
Outrage after Trump claims NATO troops avoided Afghan frontline
- Donald Trump appeared unaware that 457 British soldiers died fighting in Afghanistan following the September 11 attacks on the US
LONDON: A UK minister said Friday that US President Donald Trump was “plainly wrong” to claim that NATO soldiers did not fight on the front line in Afghanistan, as the claim sparked outrage in Britain.
In an interview with Fox News aired on Thursday, Trump appeared unaware that 457 British soldiers died fighting in the South Asian country following the September 11 attacks on the United States.
“They’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan,” Trump told the US outlet.
“And they did, they stayed a little back, a little off the front lines,” he added.
Trump also repeated his suggestion that NATO would not come to the aid of the United States if asked to do so.
In fact, following the 9/11 attacks, the UK and a number of other allies joined the US from 2001 in Afghanistan after it invoked NATO’s collective security clause.
As well as Britain’s, troops from other NATO ally countries including Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Denmark and others also died.
Care Minister Stephen Kinnock said he expected Prime Minister Keir Starmer would bring the issue up with Trump.
“I think he will, I’m sure, be raising this issue with the president... He’s incredibly proud of our armed forces, and he will make that clear to the president,” he told LBC Radio.
Trump’s comments were “plainly wrong” and “deeply disappointing,” Kinnock told broadcaster Sky News.
“It just doesn’t really add up what he said, because the fact of the matter is the only time that article 5 has been invoked was to go to the aid of the United States after 9/11,” he said.
“And many, many British soldiers and many soldiers from other European NATO allies gave their lives in support of American missions, American-led missions in places like Afghanistan and Iraq,” he added.
Lucy Aldridge, whose son William died aged 18 in Afghanistan, told The Mirror newspaper that Trump’s remarks were “extremely upsetting.”
Emily Thornberry, chair of parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, called them “so much more than a mistake.”
“It’s an absolute insult. It’s an insult to 457 families who lost someone in Afghanistan. How dare he say we weren’t on the front line,” the Labour Party politician said on the BBC’s Question Time program on Thursday evening.
According to official UK figures, 405 of the 457 British casualties who died in Afghanistan were killed in hostile military action.
The US reportedly lost more than 2,400 soldiers.
In an interview with Fox News aired on Thursday, Trump appeared unaware that 457 British soldiers died fighting in the South Asian country following the September 11 attacks on the United States.
“They’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan,” Trump told the US outlet.
“And they did, they stayed a little back, a little off the front lines,” he added.
Trump also repeated his suggestion that NATO would not come to the aid of the United States if asked to do so.
In fact, following the 9/11 attacks, the UK and a number of other allies joined the US from 2001 in Afghanistan after it invoked NATO’s collective security clause.
As well as Britain’s, troops from other NATO ally countries including Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Denmark and others also died.
Care Minister Stephen Kinnock said he expected Prime Minister Keir Starmer would bring the issue up with Trump.
“I think he will, I’m sure, be raising this issue with the president... He’s incredibly proud of our armed forces, and he will make that clear to the president,” he told LBC Radio.
Trump’s comments were “plainly wrong” and “deeply disappointing,” Kinnock told broadcaster Sky News.
“It just doesn’t really add up what he said, because the fact of the matter is the only time that article 5 has been invoked was to go to the aid of the United States after 9/11,” he said.
“And many, many British soldiers and many soldiers from other European NATO allies gave their lives in support of American missions, American-led missions in places like Afghanistan and Iraq,” he added.
Lucy Aldridge, whose son William died aged 18 in Afghanistan, told The Mirror newspaper that Trump’s remarks were “extremely upsetting.”
Emily Thornberry, chair of parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, called them “so much more than a mistake.”
“It’s an absolute insult. It’s an insult to 457 families who lost someone in Afghanistan. How dare he say we weren’t on the front line,” the Labour Party politician said on the BBC’s Question Time program on Thursday evening.
According to official UK figures, 405 of the 457 British casualties who died in Afghanistan were killed in hostile military action.
The US reportedly lost more than 2,400 soldiers.
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