India, Sept. 2 -- As the two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to a relationship tested by war and sanctions, India made clear that its ties with Moscow remain important

When Narendra Modi and Vladimir Putin embraced on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Bishkek on August 31, it was the image both governments wanted the world to see: warm and familiar, unbothered by the past year's turbulence.

Their bilateral meeting - the first face-to-face encounter since Putin's visit to New Delhi last December - was brief by diplomatic standards, but its symbolism travelled further than its substance. Modi's message was carefully calibrated. "We must move away from endless war towards an end to the war," he told Putin...