Modi-Zelensky meet: The hand over the shoulder gesture is being seen as PM Modi’s assurance of India’s solidarity with Ukraine amid a fierce Russian assault.
Around six weeks ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s hug and firm handshake with Russian President Vladimir Putin became one of the lasting images from his trip to Moscow amid criticism from the West and Ukraine. On Friday, in the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Ukraine, Modi took it up a notch higher, sharing a warm hug with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and keeping his hand on his shoulder as the duo visited a memorial for children killed in the war.
The hand over the shoulder gesture is being seen as PM Modi’s assurance of India’s solidarity with Ukraine amid a fierce Russian assault, which is now in its third year. Zelenskyy was seen getting emotional as they toured the war-torn country’s Martyrologist Exposition.
The camaraderie comes weeks after PM Modi’s visit to Moscow, his first since the war began, did not resonate well with the West. Eric Garcetti, the US Ambassador to India, said India’s relationship with America should not be “taken for granted”.
Zelenskyy was particularly critical, saying he was “disappointed to see the leader of the world’s largest democracy hug the world’s most bloody criminal in Moscow”. Modi’s visit to Moscow also coincided with the bombing of a children’s hospital in Kyiv, further angering the West and Ukraine.
At a press briefing, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar gave a curt reply to a BBC reporter who questioned him on Modi’s hug with Putin.
“It may not be part of your culture. It is part of our culture. We do embrace. We seem to have a slight cultural gap on what these curtsies mean,” Jaishankar said.
DECODING OPTICS OF PM MODI’S UKRAINE VISIT
The optics of PM Modi’s Ukraine and Russia visits, however, had one stark difference. During his Moscow visit, Modi paid respects at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and did not visit any memorial for Russian soldiers who died in the war.
On Friday, PM Modi visited the Martyrologist exposition on children at the National Museum of History of Ukraine in Kyiv. It was set up in memory of children who had lost their lives in the conflict.
The Ministry of External Affairs, in a statement, said PM Modi expressed “sorrow at the tragic loss of young lives” and, as a mark of respect, placed a toy in their memory.
A crowd had gathered at the site, with some carrying placards reading, “Ancient India should save the world”.
In Russia, after the two leaders hugged each other, Modi and Putin were seen chatting over tea at the President’s dacha and watching a horse show. Putin was also seen driving PM Modi around his residence in a golf cart.