1 Sep 2025 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin shared a warm hug as they met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tianjin, China.
PM Modi shared two pictures with President Putin, one of them showing the two leaders interacting, and the other showing them hugging each other. Sharing the pictures, PM Modi tweeted: “Always a delight to meet President Putin!”
The visibly delightful meet and greet between the two leaders comes amid US President Donald Trump’s sweeping 50% tariffs on Indian imports, half of them imposed as a penalty for doing business with Russia.
Trump and many of his key officials have been lashing out at India for buying Russian oil, justifying the doubling of duties, which came into force on August 27.
While India had clarified that its energy deals are guided by offer in markets and the global situation, the Trump administration, especially his trade adviser Peter Navarro has alleged that the money Russia gets from its business with India is then used to fund the war in Ukraine.
In July, Trump had threatened 100% tariffs on Russia if it didn’t agree to a peace deal over Ukraine. He had also said he would pursue secondary sanctions on countries that purchase Russian energy.
The latest meeting between PM Modi and Putin also comes weeks after Trump and Putin met in Alaska to discuss the situation in Ukraine.
Ahead of that meeting, Trump had said that Russia lost an “oil client” – India. “Well, they lost an oil client so to speak, which is India, which was doing about 40% of the oil, China as you know is doing a lot…and If I did secondary sanctions, it would be devastating from their standpoint…,” he had said in an interview with Fox News.
This was days after Trump threatened a 50% tariff on Indian imports citing New Delhi’s oil trade with Russia.
Currently, PM Modi and Putin are in Russia to attend the much-anticipated SCO Summit. Both leaders were welcomed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in Tianjin.
This is PM Modi’s first visit to China in seven years, and the first meeting with Jinping in almost an year. The leaders last met in Kazan, Russia, in October last year, a meeting that initiated a major thaw in India-China ties, with an understanding reached to end the face-off on the Line of Actual Control.
Summary: Amid Trump’s tariff challenges, PM Modi met President Putin in China, highlighting India-Russia friendship with a warm embrace.