On two chairs: Indian PM congratulates Putin on his 're-election' and immediately talks to Zelensky

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held two phone conversations with the presidents of Russia and Ukraine. First, the Indian leader congratulated Vladimir Putin on his re-election as president, and shortly afterwards called Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss strengthening Ukraine-India cooperation.

Modi tweeted that during his conversation with Putin, they agreed to "work together to deepen and expand the Indo-Russian privileged strategic partnership".

The Kremlin press service reports that Putin and Modi, among other things, exchanged views "on issues of the international agenda, in particular, in the context of the situation around Ukraine."

A few hours later, Modi spoke about his conversation with Vladimir Zelensky. According to him, he told Zelenskyy about India's "continued support to efforts to bring peace and end the conflict".

In turn, Zelenskyy tweeted that he thanked Modi "for supporting Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, for humanitarian aid and the active participation of Indian representatives in meetings at the advisory level."

"It is important for us that India takes part in the inaugural Peace Summit, preparations for which are underway in Switzerland," Zelenskyy wrote.

According to Reuters, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will travel to India next week for his first visit since the Russian invasion began.

The Reuters sources said that Kuleba was invited by Indian Foreign Minister Subramaniam Jaishankar, who followed a phone call between Modi and Zelensky earlier this year.

India maintains close relations with Russia and has not joined the international sanctions imposed on it over the war with Ukraine. After the start of the full-scale invasion, it sharply increased its oil imports from Russia.

At the same time, the Indian government does not directly support the Kremlin's actions in Ukraine and does not recognise the annexation of Ukrainian territories. India calls on both sides of the conflict to negotiate, and Modi told Putin during a meeting in September 2022 that now is not the time for war.

Background. It was also reported that India is refusing to sign major arms deals with Russia, and Russia's share of global arms exports has fallen by 31%.