NEW DELHI – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend October’s Brics summit in Russia, New Delhi said on Oct 18, weeks after his friendly hug with President Vladimir Putin drew condemnation from Ukraine.

       Mr Modi’s government has longstanding ties with Moscow that have persisted despite India’s courtship of closer security partnerships with Washington and other Western allies.

       The balancing act has seen New Delhi avoid condemning Russia’s war in Ukraine and instead propose itself as an intermediary to broker a peaceful resolution to the ongoing conflict.

       India’s Foreign Ministry said Mr Modi will be in Russia on Oct 22 and Oct 23 for the summit, held in the city of Kazan along the Volga River.

       Mr Modi’s visit is his second to Russia in 2024 following an earlier trip to Moscow in July.

       On arrival, he warmly embraced Mr Putin, a moment Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky slammed as a “devastating blow to peace”.

       His arrival in Moscow coincided with Russian strikes in Ukraine that killed more than three dozen people and heavily damaged a children’s hospital in Kyiv, prompting a global outcry.

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       Mr Modi visited Kyiv the following month, where he called for peace, saying that “no problem should be solved on the battlefield”.

       Russia is a vital supplier of cut-price oil and weapons to India, but Moscow’s isolation from the West and growing ties with Beijing have impacted its partnership with New Delhi.

       The Ukraine war has forced India to look for other sources for arms instead of Russia, traditionally its biggest provider.

       At the same time, India has become a major purchaser of Russian crude, providing a much-needed export market for Russia after it was dropped by traditional buyers in Europe.

       That has dramatically reconfigured their economic ties, with India saving itself billions of dollars while bolstering Moscow’s war coffers.

       More recently, relations have been unsettled over allegations that Indian citizens were duped into fighting with Russian soldiers on the front lines.

       The Brics group takes its name from the initial letters of the five members who joined in 2009 – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

       It has since expanded to include Middle Eastern countries, including Iran.

       Mr Yury Ushakov, Mr Putin’s foreign policy aide, said in October that leaders of 24 countries would be attending the summit. AFP