Overview
- On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian and Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and held a leader-level session with Russia’s Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the 26th SCO Summit in Bishkek.
- Modi used the talks to reiterate India's call for diplomacy to resolve West Asia tensions and to stress the need to safeguard freedom of navigation and commerce for trade and energy supplies.
- The scheduled Modi‑Putin review covered the full India‑Russia relationship, including recent India‑Russia government talks on trade, energy and defence cooperation.
- A formal one‑on‑one meeting with China’s Xi Jinping was not arranged though both leaders shared SCO sessions, while Modi also highlighted plans to deepen ties with Central Asian partners after a prior visit to Uzbekistan.
- The engagements advance India's economic and connectivity aims, position New Delhi ahead of the BRICS summit in September, and underscore New Delhi's effort to balance major‑power ties while protecting shipping and energy routes that affect Indian businesses and citizens.