Modi, Putin hold talks amid outrage over Ukraine strikes
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00:00Now to India. Now, because Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to hold talks with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow today after he arrived there yesterday amid the global outcry over the Russian strikes in Ukraine.
00:12Modi visiting Moscow for the first time since Russia launched its campaign in Ukraine, seeking to nurture New Delhi's long-standing relationship with Moscow.
00:21At the same time, though, he's also been caught in closer Western security ties after being returned to power last month as leader of the world's most populous country.
00:29We're going to cross then to New Delhi. Talk to our correspondent Navadita Kamari, who joins us from there.
00:34Navadita, a real balancing act, I suppose, between Western allies and Russia. What does Modi hope to get out of this?
00:41This is a tricky part for India to find a fine balance between a relatively new friend, that is, United States, and a time-tested friend, Russia.
00:53I mean, even after the war began, there has been immense pressure on India by its Western allies to denounce and condemn its invasion in Ukraine.
01:05But India has avoided to condemn Russian act.
01:10Geopolitics is going to be one of the major issues when the two leaders will sit to talk later today.
01:18As we know that Russia is the major supply of India's arms and military equipment that accounts for nearly 60 percent of its total military stock,
01:29whereas the United States has promised to supply advanced weaponry.
01:35And India needs both the United States and Russia to protect its borders with China and also to counter China's growing aggression in the Indo-Pacific region.
01:49That's why India constantly is playing and making efforts to find a balance in relations between Russia and United States.
01:59There's another issue there as well, isn't it?
02:02The opposition there in India is accusing Narendra Modi of not doing enough to bring back Indian fighters that they say were duped into going to fight for Russia.
02:12That's correct.
02:13And at their dinner meeting last night, it is reported that Putin has agreed to release and send back those dozens of Indians who were tricked by local agents on the promise of well-paid jobs or even university seats.
02:34There have been reports for months that dozens of Indians, mostly belonging to poor families, who were tricked by local agents and were brought to Russia.
02:44And as soon as they landed there, they were taken by groups and sent for military training for up to two to three weeks.
02:51And they were given arms and sent to war, sent to fight war on the front lines.
02:58So that's why the issue has been a big discontent here in India.
03:04And the opposition has been putting pressure on the Indian prime minister to bring back those Indians.