Perhaps the hope was that, once India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi touched down in Europe, he would join the “I hate Putin” chorus. Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz welcomed Modi to Berlin with ten billion euro for India to transit toward “green” programs from now to 2030. However, Scholz had to go it alone, issuing his own separate statement blaming Putin. Then he offered some points of agreement: “The importance of a rule-based order is illustrated to us and impressed upon us by this. We agree on the fact that borders should not be changed through the use of violence and that the inviolability as well as the sovereignty of nations has to be universally accepted. We talked about this in greater detail with the Prime Minister. What needs to be done now is to ensure that we achieve a better future together, not by waging wars against each other, but by pursuing economic growth and development together.”
It appears that Modi came prepared with his version and, instead of invoking “a rule-based order,” he blamed “geopolitics.” After the joint presentation was over, he commented: “Recent geopolitical events also showed how fragile world peace and stability is, and how interconnected all countries are. From the very beginning of the Ukrainian crisis, we called for an immediate ceasefire, insisting that dialogue is the only way to resolve the dispute. We believe that there will be no winning party in this war, everyone will suffer. That is why we are in favor of peace.”
