PM Modi, Putin talk amid US tariff tensions, vow to deepen ties

In the wake of the US imposing 50 per cent punitive trade tariffs on India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday spoke over phone and reaffirmed their commitment to deepen strategic partnership between the two countries.

The PM said he looked forward to hosting President Putin in India later this year for the 23rd India-Russia Annual Bilateral Summit.

“Had a very good and detailed conversation with my friend President Putin. We reviewed the progress in our bilateral agenda and reaffirmed our commitment to further deepen the India-Russia special and privileged strategic partnership,” Modi said in a post on X.

Putin also briefed Modi on Russia’s ongoing conflict with Ukraine, with the PM reiterating India’s consistent position for its peaceful resolution. The conversation between the two leaders came amid US President Donald Trump’s pressure on India over the purchase of Russian oil. Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order slapping an additional 25 per cent tariff on India, bringing the total duties to 50 per cent—among the highest imposed by the US on any country in the world. The additional 25 per cent duty will come into effect on August 27.

The telephone call happened a day after National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval met his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu and later called on Putin at the Kremlin.

Doval had said the dates for Putin’s India visit had “almost been finalised” and the Russian President’s meeting with the PM was expected to give a new direction to the relationship between the two countries. Shoigu wanted Moscow and New Delhi to determine the timing of the new full-scale negotiations between Putin and Modi.

Prime Minister Modi had travelled to Russia twice last year for an annual summit with Putin and to attend the BRICS Summit in Kazan.

Putin met US President Donald Trump’s Special Envoy Steven Witkoff in Moscow on August 6. The Kremlin said Putin also spoke to Chinese President Xi Jinping and informed him of the key outcomes of his meeting with Witkoff.

“The meeting took place in a business-like atmosphere and was constructive. The discussion focused on matters dealing with future efforts to work together in the context of resolving the Ukraine crisis,” Putin aide Yury Ushakov had said about the President’s meeting with Witkoff.