New Delhi, Sept. 13 -- Russia on Sunday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping offered to help facilitate peace talks to end the Ukraine war during meetings on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in New Delhi, with Moscow saying President Vladimir Putin welcomed their willingness to assist.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Modi and Xi had shown a keen interest in efforts to resolve the conflict and offered their "good offices" to help find a solution. The development comes as US President Donald Trump's efforts to broker a settlement between Russia and Ukraine have yet to produce a breakthrough.
Modi also held a bilateral meeting with Putin during the summit, their second meeting in less than two weeks after they met at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Bishkek on August 31.
According to the Ministry of External Affairs, the two leaders discussed key regional and global issues, including the conflicts in West Asia and the Black Sea region. The instability in these areas has affected maritime trade and raised concerns over the safety and security of Indian seafarers.
Modi told Putin that "dialogue and diplomacy" remain the way forward in resolving conflicts and said India was ready to assist in peace efforts. He had made a similar call during a meeting with Putin in 2022, when he said that "today's era is not an era of war".
The talks between Modi and Putin also covered closer economic cooperation. They discussed implementation of the Programme for Economic Cooperation 2030 and cooperation in infrastructure, energy, technology, defence and culture.
"Delighted to meet President Putin in Delhi, less than two weeks after our meeting in Bishkek," Modi said in a post on X, adding that the two sides discussed ways to strengthen trade and cooperation across several sectors. India has maintained working relations with both Moscow and Kyiv and has repeatedly called for dialogue to resolve the conflict. The Kremlin has previously said that India's position on Ukraine broadly corresponds with Russia's desire for a peaceful settlement.
The outreach by Modi and Xi came as the war approaches its fifth year, while diplomatic efforts led by Washington remain stalled. Trump recently spoke with Putin and called for a swift end to the conflict, saying peace would help restore US-Russia ties.
US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner also travelled to Moscow and Kyiv over the weekend as part of efforts to revive negotiations, but the visits did not result in a tangible breakthrough.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he would be willing to attend the G20 Summit in Miami if Putin also participates, raising the possibility of a first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders since the war began.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.