Finance
Russian President Vladimir Putin has revealed the first details of his much-discussed limousine journey with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the just finished 25th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in China’s Tianjin.
“Well, it’s not a secret. I told him about the negotiations in Alaska,” Putin told reporters, referring to his recent talks with PM Modi while the two leaders were on their way to the Ritz-Carlton Hotel for a bilateral meeting.
Putin and PM Modi had taken a made-in-Russia Aurus sedan from the SCO venue to the location of their bilateral meeting. What was intended to be a 15-minute ride turned into nearly an hour as the two leaders continued to talk inside the car before getting out.
PM Modi later posted on X about the unusual carpool. “After the proceedings at the SCO Summit venue, President Putin and I travelled together to the venue of our bilateral meeting. Conversations with him are always insightful,” the Prime Minister tweeted.
The exchange occurred amid the backdrop of a dramatic deterioration in India-US commercial relations. Washington has imposed high tariffs on India — 25% on exports and an additional 25% levy — in response to the country’s continued purchase of Russian crude oil.
Putin’s revelation linked PM Modi’s chat to his own meeting with US President Donald Trump in Alaska last month. This time, Trump went a step further: after laying the red carpet for negotiations on the Ukraine conflict, he invited Putin to join him in his armoured vehicle, known as “the Beast”.
“Of course we spoke English. Broken English. I had very limited talks with President Trump as the ride took some 30 seconds. I told him that I was glad to see him alive and healthy. It was more of a small talk,” Putin revealed.
The meeting between Putin and Trump in Alaska was billed as a watershed event in efforts to bring the Ukraine conflict to an end. While no ceasefire was agreed upon, Putin later claimed to have gained ‘understandings’ with Trump about the next steps.
By involving PM Modi in that chain of contacts, Putin has left the world guessing about what was discussed inside the limousine in Tianjin and how much it could impact the next phase of diplomacy amid the ongoing Ukraine war and India’s strained trade ties with the United States.
Source: IT
