Modi, Putin speak over phone amid speculation of their summit with Xi Jinping

Vladimir Putin, after visiting India in early December, held talks with China's Xi Jinping and is offering to mediate between India and China

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke over the phone on Monday, amid speculation over Moscow mediating between New Delhi and Beijing to help end a 20-month-long military stand-off along the disputed boundary between India and China in eastern Ladakh.

Modi and Putin “followed up on some of the issues” discussed during the annual summit the two leaders had held in New Delhi about a fortnight ago, according to a press release issued by the Prime Minister’s Office in New Delhi. Putin’s office in Moscow, however, stated that he and Modi exchanged views on the international stability and security problems, including the situation in the Asia-Pacific.

The phone call between the two leaders took place just days after Moscow made it public that it had proposed a trilateral RIC (Russia-India-China) summit among Putin, Modi and the Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Also Read — India, China 'effectively managed, controlled' eastern Ladakh frictions: Chinese FM Wang Yi

Putin held the annual India-Russia summit with Modi in New Delhi on December 6. He also had a videoconference with Xi on December 15. Putin's aide, Yury Ushakov, said in Moscow that the leaders of Russia and China had agreed to endeavour to hold the next RIC summit with the Prime Minister of India “in the near future”.

New Delhi, however, remained non-committal on Moscow’s proposal for the RIC summit.

Modi, Putin and Xi had held the second RIC summit on the sideline of the G-20 conclave in Buenos Aires in December 2018 – almost 12 years after the then leaders of the three nations had held the first trilateral meeting. They had held the third RIC summit on the sideline of the G-20 meet in Osaka in June 2019.

The RIC summit, however, could not be held in 2020 and 2021, as the Covid-19 pandemic swept the world and India’s relations with China hit a new low over the military stand-off along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

Also Read — In India visit, Putin's message to the US and China

The phone call between Modi and Putin on Monday helped firm up the future course of action on the issues discussed by the two leaders earlier this month, including opportunities for furthering defence cooperation, cooperation in the supply of fertilizers, enhancement of India's engagement with the Russian Far East, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi.

The proposal for a trilateral Putin-Modi-Xi summit came amid the continuing stand-off between the Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) along the LAC, the de facto boundary between the two nations in the western sector.

Also Read — Putin, Xi hail Russia-China ties during virtual summit

The stand-off started in April to May of 2020, when the Indian Army had to deploy additional troops in response to the Chinese PLA’s move to amass a large number of troops near the LAC in an attempt to unilaterally change the status quo along the disputed boundary and to push the line westward. It reached a flashpoint on June 15, 2020, when 20 Indian Army soldiers and at least four Chinese PLA personnel were killed in a violent clash at Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh.

The protracted negotiations between diplomats and senior military commanders of India and China resulted in the mutual withdrawal of front-line troops by the Chinese PLA and the Indian Army from the northern and southern banks of Pangong Tso (lake) in February and from the Gogra Post in August this year. The two sides, however, could not agree on disengagement in other remaining face-off points along the LAC.

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