The hug between PM Modi and President Putin during Indian leader’s visit to the Russian leader’s dacha in a Moscow suburb for an informal interaction this month continues to trouble the American establishment.
"We have the picture emblazoned on our heads of Modi hugging Putin... That’s a bitter pill to swallow," Jim Risch, ranking member of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said during a Congressional hearing in Washington
Zelensky’s Criticism of Modi
Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky described the Modi-Putin embrace as a “huge disappointment and a devastating blow to peace efforts”, a comment which hasn’t gone down well with New Delhi as it seeks to play the role of a peace-maker in the conflict.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) lodged a strong protest with the Ukrainian Embassy in New Delhi over Zelensky’s comment.
Not only Zelensky but high-ranking American diplomats have also expressed their disappointment over PM Modi’s visit to Russia, earning a strong rebuke from New Delhi each time they did so.
While American Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti indicated that New Delhi should forego its “strategic autonomy” and side with the West against Russia, US Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu expressed “disappointment about the symbolism and the timing” of Modi’s visit to Moscow.
Incidentally, the Modi-Putin Summit at the Kremlin took place on the same day as the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) allies were hosting Zelensky in Washington, disproving western narrative of having "isolated" Russia as part of its hybrid warfare campaign against Moscow.