Putin Briefs Leaders of China and India on Talks With US. o

[cng]

Putin Briefs Leaders of China and India on Talks With U.S. on Ukraine



President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Friday briefed the leaders of China and India on his negotiations with the United States over Ukraine peace talks, according to the Kremlin. It is the latest example of the Kremlin’s overtures to major developing nations amid President Trump’s escalating global trade war.

Mr. Putin has stepped up the pace of his public diplomacy since meeting Mr. Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow on Wednesday. That meeting led the White House and the Kremlin to announce separately that Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin could meet to discuss ending the war in Ukraine as soon as next week.

Ahead of the expected meeting, Mr. Putin appears to be shoring up support for his war strategy among global or regional powers that have either sided with Russia or remained neutral in the conflict. Mr. Putin spoke by telephone on Friday with President Xi Jinping of China and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, but neither Moscow nor Beijing disclosed the substance of their talks beyond offering vague promises to deepen cooperation.

On Thursday, Mr. Putin met an Indian national security official in Moscow and spoke by telephone with President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa. In that period, Mr. Putin also spoke by telephone or in person with the leaders of Belarus, Kazakhstan, the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan.

China, India, Russia and South Africa, as well as Brazil, are the major members of the BRICS, a group of 10 developing nations. Those countries, apart from Russia, which already faces comprehensive American sanctions over the war in Ukraine, have seen their trade conditions with the United States worsen significantly since Mr. Trump returned to office in January.

In most cases, Mr. Trump has framed higher tariffs on these nations as punishments for domestic policies, real or imagined, that he did not like. He has criticized South Africa as mistreating its white minority; called on Brazil to stop prosecuting former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is accused of planning to overthrow the government; and threatened to double tariffs on India for buying Russian oil.

And The Trump administration has criticized China as flooding the United States with synthetic opioids and for buying Russian and Iranian oil, and accused it of exploiting the global trade system.

The governments of Brazil, China, India and South Africa have bristled at Mr. Trump’s accusations, which they called attacks on their sovereignty.

“The targeting of India is unjustified and unreasonable,” the country’s foreign ministry said in a statement this week after Mr. Trump threatened an additional 25 percent tariff on its goods if it did not stop buying Russian crude oil. “Like any major economy, India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security,” the statement said.

Indian officials said this week that they intend to continue buying Russian oil, in effect defying Mr. Trump.

There are tentative signs that Mr. Trump’s economic attacks are drawing the BRICS nations closer, at least in the diplomatic arena. Russia would be the most obvious beneficiary of closer cooperation among the major developing economies, because its own economy is largely frozen out of Western markets.

Later in August, Mr. Xi will host Mr. Modi and Mr. Putin in China for a regional forum, in what will be a rare meeting of the leaders of competing Asian powers. Indian officials announced in Moscow this week that Mr. Putin plans to visit the country by the end of the year. And President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil visited Moscow for a military parade in May, his first trip to Russia in 15 years.