Putin Praises Modi's 'Very Good Ideas' on Ukraine — and Refuses Any Pause in Strikes
The Magna BureauAt Valdai, Putin lauded Modi's peace ideas — then claimed record September gains, demanded Ukrainian neutrality, and said 'no' to halting Black Sea strikes.
On a stage in Moscow built for exactly this kind of theater, Vladimir Putin reached for warmth. India, he said on Thursday, holds a "neutral position" on Ukraine — and yet its prime minister "constantly raises questions about ending the conflict" at every meeting, armed with "very good ideas" for peace. It was the kind of compliment leaders give when they want the world to believe a door is open — even as, in the same appearance, he slammed that door shut on halting strikes in the Black Sea.
The hall at Valdai was full of the people who make a living reading Vladimir Putin's moods, and on Thursday afternoon he gave them a masterclass in the warm half of his repertoire. India, he told the forum, takes a "neutral position" on Ukraine. And yet — the "and yet" did all the work — Narendra Modi "constantly raises questions about ending the conflict" at every bilateral meeting, despite what Putin called their "very good, friendly" relations. "He has an avid interest and very good ideas aimed at finding mutually acceptable solutions," the Russian president said. "We are grateful to the Prime Minister for his ideas — I won't go into details now — for his commitment to ending this conflict, including peacefully and as quickly as possible." It was praise of a very particular kind: lavish, public, and — as Putin himself made clear — detail-free. The Valdai Discussion Club has hosted this ritual for years, a stage where the Kremlin speaks past the diplomats in the room to the capitals beyond it, and on Thursday Modi's name was the instrument of the evening. Consider the setting. A war in its fourth year. An energy grid under weekly assault. And a Russian president choosing, of all the week's material, to open with gratitude toward New Delhi. That choice was the message. The praise was the policy — or at least, for the length of a news cycle, it was meant to look like one. Behind closed doors, of course, the forum's other headlines were being written at the very same microphon
No other leader on earth occupies the seat Narendra Modi has carved out for himself in this war. India has abstained on United Nations resolutions condemning Russia's invasion while engaging both Moscow and Kyiv, and Modi made a landmark visit to the Ukrainian capital — the kind of trip that reads as a statement in itself. That is the "neutral position" Putin named on Thursday, and it is worth pausing over what neutrality means when it comes with a microphone at Valdai. In 2022, Modi told Putin to his face that "this is not an era of war" — a line that traveled the world precisely because it came from a friend of the Kremlin rather than a critic. In August, at the SCO summit in Bishkek, he called for moving "from an endless war towards an end to the war." In September, standing beside Putin in New Delhi after the 18th BRICS summit, he went further still: "We have to move from a situation of 'endless war' to 'end of war'... It is humanity's wish that the end of this war happens soonest." The words have grown bolder with each telling, and the venues grander — from a bilateral aside to a joint statement on Indian soil. This is not the neutrality of silence. It is the neutrality of a power that believes it can talk to everyone, and wants the world to watch it try. For now, that posture has cost New Delhi little and bought it much: relevance in every conversation about ending the war, without the obligations that come with choosing a side.