Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has canceled his annual face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which was scheduled for December, Bloomberg reported , citing people familiar with the matter. The traditional Russian-Indian summit will not take place.
According to the agency, Modi made this decision because of the war and nuclear threats from Russia. At the same time, the summit has been held since the 2000s, and it was canceled only once – due to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
Bloomberg claims that the cancellation of the meeting does not mean a deterioration in relations between the countries, but the Indian prime minister, according to sources, does not see any benefits from such contacts now.
That India would refuse the meeting was already obvious after the SCO summit in Samarkand, which was held in September, the agency says. Then Modi called Putin for peace and diplomacy and said that "the current era is not an era of wars." At the summit in Uzbekistan, Putin, who is regularly late for meetings with world leaders, had to wait for his interlocutors himself. In front of the cameras, he was waiting for the leaders of India, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan.
In November, Reuters, citing sources, reported that due to sanctions, Russia asked India to help with spare parts for planes, cars and trains. There were more than 500 items on the list handed over by the Ministry of Industry and Trade. An Indian government source said the list is unusual in scope.