The leaders of Turkey and India both called on Putin to end the war in Ukraine at an international summit on Friday, with the Russian President vowing to end the conflict “as soon as possible.”
During a two-day Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit with eastern allies in Uzbekistan, Vladimir Putin promised his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi that he would do everything he can to end Moscow’s assault on Ukraine.
“I know [where] you stand on the conflict in Ukraine and the concerns that you have repeatedly voiced,” he told Modi. “We will do all we can to end that as quickly as possible.”
“Regrettably, the other side, the leadership of Ukraine, has rejected the negotiations process and stated that it wants to achieve its goals by military means on the battlefield,” he added.
Ukraine, for its part, has blamed Russia for the current failure to bring a non-violent end to the war.
After seven months of war, Putin is seeking new trade agreements following a raft of Western sanctions that have hit Russia’s economy hard. However, Russia’s premier is facing a difficult political situation, with his partners expressing their concerns about the ongoing conflict.
“Our age is not that of war,” said Indian Prime Minister Modi. “And we have spoken many times on the phone that democracy, diplomacy and dialogue, all of these things are likely to have an impact on the world.”
However, Putin also spoke to reporters Friday after attending the summit and said the “liberation” of Ukraine’s entire eastern Donbas region remained his country’s main military goal and that he sees no need to revise it.
“We aren’t in a rush,” he said, adding that Moscow has only deployed volunteer soldiers to fight in Ukraine.
Some hardline politicians and military bloggers in Russia have urged the Kremlin to follow Ukraine’s example and order a broad mobilisation to beef up the ranks, lamenting the country’s manpower shortage.
Putin also met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday to discuss bolstering economic cooperation and regional issues, including a July deal brokered by Turkey and the United Nations on Ukrainian grain shipments.
Erdogan called for an end to the war in Ukraine “as soon as possible through diplomatic channels.”
During a meeting with China’s leader Xi Jinping on Thursday, Putin thanked his Chinese counterpart for his “balanced position” on Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, while promising him “explanations” in the face of his “concerns” — without specifying what exactly they were.
This was Xi’s first trip abroad since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, which is aimed to help strengthen his stature as a major leader ahead of a Chinese Communist Party congress in October, during which he will seek a new term.