Foreign policy analyst Fareed Zakaria said the optics of the Modi-Putin meeting mattered as much as the substance. “It was nice for India to be able to show that it had friends, that it had countries that respected it, so it’s a gift from Trump,” he said.
The visible bonhomie between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin during their recent summit in India was, in many ways, a “gift from Trump,” foreign policy analyst Fareed Zakaria said in an exclusive interview with NDTV. While India and Russia share long-standing ties, Zakaria argued that the relationship has deepened further because the “US had turned its back on India.”
Speaking to NDTV’s Chief Executive Editor and Editor-in-Chief Rahul Kanwal, Zakaria said the optics of the Modi-Putin meeting mattered as much as the substance. “It was nice for India to be able to show that it had friends, that it had countries that respected it, so it’s a gift from Trump,” he said.
Putin was in India for a two-day visit from December 4 to 6, during which he held summit-level talks with PM Modi in New Delhi. The visit was aimed at strengthening economic ties, particularly trade, with India as Western sanctions continue to strain Moscow’s long-established relationships.
A photograph of PM Modi and Putin taking a ‘selfie’ during a car ride quickly went viral and unsettled the West. The image was even cited in the US Congress, where Democratic Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove displayed it during a hearing on US foreign policy.
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