Overview

• The planned 15‑minute transfer in Tianjin extended into roughly an hour of one‑to‑one conversation inside Putin’s Aurus sedan, according to Russian media and the Kremlin.
• Modi posted on X that he and Putin traveled together to the bilateral meeting venue and called their conversation insightful.
• Putin has claimed he reached unspecified "understandings" with President Trump in Alaska on the Ukraine war, with no ceasefire or detailed terms announced.
• By tying his Alaska discussions to his exchange with Modi, Putin linked a chain of private leader‑level contacts whose substantive content remains undisclosed.
• The episode unfolded against a downturn in U.S.–India trade relations, with Washington imposing a 25% tariff plus a 25% surcharge on Indian exports over purchases of Russian crude, according to Indian media reports.