Kremlin Scrambles, Says No Modi-Putin Disagreement

MOSCOW, (REUTERS) – The Kremlin denied on July 10 that there had been any disagreement between President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at their talks in Moscow this week.

Modi delivered an implicit rebuke to Putin on July 9, the day after a lethal strike on a children’s hospital in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, when he told him that the death of innocent children was painful and terrifying.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters a decision to cancel a session of talks between Russian and Indian delegations was taken for scheduling reasons and because the entire agenda had been covered.

“This has absolutely nothing to do with any disagreements or problematic situations,” he said.

The visiting Indian leader had used emotive language to deliver an implicit rebuke to Putin at a summit intended to underscore the deepening partnership between their two countries.

Winding up his two-day trip, the two sides set out nine key areas for closer cooperation, ranging from nuclear energy to medicine, and said they aimed to boost bilateral trade by more than half to hit $100 billion by 2030.

But given that Putin has rarely been publicly criticised face-to-face over the war in Ukraine by the leader of a country that Russia sees as a friend, Modi’s televised comments were striking.

“Whether it is war, conflict or a terrorist attack, any person who believes in humanity is pained when there is loss of lives,” Modi said.

“But even in that, when innocent children are killed, the heart bleeds and that pain is very terrifying.”

Ukraine says it has recovered fragments of a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile at the Kyiv children’s hospital which was hit on July 8 during a wave of Russian attacks that killed 44 Ukrainians, including four children, across the country.