Samarkand SCO Summit 2022: US media on Friday lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for telling Russian President Vladimir Putin that this is not the time to go to war in Ukraine. The talks between Modi and Putin in Samarkand, Uzbekistan were given wide coverage by mainstream US media. ‘Modi reprimands Putin for war in Ukraine’, titled ‘The Washington Post’. The daily wrote, “Modi gave a surprising public rebuke to Putin, saying that the modern era is not the era of war and I have spoken to you on the phone about it.”
It said the rare censure had put the 69-year-old Russian leader under immense pressure from all sides. Putin told Modi that I know your stand on the conflict in Ukraine, I am aware of your concerns, which you keep telling about again and again. We are trying our best to stop it as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the opposition Ukraine’s leadership announced its withdrawal from the negotiation process, saying it wanted to achieve its goal through military means, that is, ‘on the battlefield’. Nevertheless, we will keep you informed about what is happening there. It was the headline of the webpages of ‘The Washington Post’ and ‘The New York Times’. ,
The New York Times headlined that India’s leader told Putin it was not a time of war. He wrote that the tone of the meeting was friendly and the two leaders referred to their long shared history. Before Modi’s remarks, Putin said he understood India’s concerns over the war in Ukraine. The newspaper said Modi made the comments a day after Chinese President Xi Jinping’s first one-on-one meeting with Putin after the Ukraine attack. Jinping adopted a more calm tone than the Russian president and tried to avoid mentioning Ukraine in his public statements.
‘India, China remarks show world’s concern’
US Secretary of State Tony Bliken on Friday said the leaders of India and China expressing their concerns over the Ukraine war to Russian President Vladimir Putin shows that the world is concerned about the impact of the invasion that started the war in Ukraine in February. The two leaders have met face-to-face for the first time since their inception. In a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) annual summit in Samarkand, Modi underscored the importance of “democracy, dialogue and diplomacy” while calling for an early end to instability in Ukraine.
“What you are hearing from China and India shows the world’s concern about the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine not only on the people of Ukraine, but on people and countries across the globe,” Blinken said on Friday. He said this is not just an attack on Ukraine and its people, but it is an attack on the principles of international relations, which help in maintaining peace and security. The US Secretary of State was responding to a question by the leaders of China and India expressing concerns directly to Putin about the war in Ukraine.
“We have focused and spent a lot of time on addressing the challenges of food security in recent months,” Blinken said. These challenges have been greatly increased by the Russian invasion. We have already suffered from covid, we have been hit by climate change, which has a profound impact on food security. Due to this war now more than 200 million of our people are facing food insecurity.
He said that leaders across the world are feeling this. So I think what you are seeing is an expression of the fact that this is an attack against the interests of the peoples of the whole earth and I think it increases the pressure on Russia to end the war.
