At SCO summit, Modi presses Putin for peace while India and Russia reinforce strategic ties

New Delhi: The prime minister, Narendra Modi, on Monday urged the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to work towards ending the Ukraine war, warning that every additional day of fighting pushes humanity backwards. Modi made the appeal during bilateral talks on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on Monday.

“Every day of war sets humanity back,” Modi told Putin, according to an ET report. His intervention reiterated India’s position that the conflict must be resolved through negotiations and diplomacy rather than prolonged military action.

The two leaders met as Russia’s war against Ukraine entered its fifth year, with no comprehensive political settlement in sight and fighting continuing to impose heavy human and economic costs. Putin did not immediately offer a publicly reported response to Modi’s appeal, although Russian accounts of the meeting emphasized that relations with India were continuing to strengthen.

India has consistently avoided directly condemning Russia over the February 2022 invasion, while repeatedly calling for respect for international law, dialogue and an early cessation of hostilities. New Delhi has also maintained contacts with Ukraine and offered support for diplomatic efforts, seeking to preserve its strategic autonomy without abandoning its longstanding partnership with Moscow.

The Bishkek meeting was expected to cover a wider range of bilateral issues, including energy, fertilizers, trade and defence cooperation. Before the summit, the Kremlin had described the planned talks as important and said the two leaders would discuss several substantive matters.

Russia remains an important supplier of military equipment, crude oil, nuclear technology and fertilizers to India, although New Delhi has sought to diversify its defence procurements and correct the heavily imbalanced bilateral trade relationship. At their annual summit in New Delhi in December 2025, the two countries agreed to broaden commerce beyond oil and defence and work towards a bilateral trade target of $100 billion by 2030.

Modi’s appeal consequently carried a dual message: India intends to protect its strategic relationship with Russia but does not regard an open-ended war as acceptable or sustainable. The conflict has disrupted global food, fertilizer and energy markets, with developing economies bearing a significant share of the resulting costs.

The SCO summit brought together the leaders of its 10 member countries, including India, Russia, China, Iran and Pakistan, at a time of continuing wars in Europe and West Asia. Although Moscow and Beijing promote the organization as an important Eurasian platform, its members retain sharply different security interests and foreign-policy priorities.

For India, participation in the SCO provides access to Central Asian governments and a forum for engaging Russia and China without entering a formal geopolitical bloc. Modi’s remarks to Putin reflected that calibrated approach – engagement with Moscow accompanied by an unambiguous reminder that the Ukraine conflict ultimately requires a negotiated political solution.