"There Is No Secret": Putin On His Conversation With PM Modi During Limo Ride

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was briefed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on the latter's talks with US President Donald Trump during the Alaska summit, earlier this week. 

Mr Putin shared details of his conversation with his US counterpart, Donald Trump, as he offered a lift to Mr Modi in his Russian-made Aurus limousine on Monday. 

"There is no secret. I told him what we talked about in Alaska," the Russian President said in response to a question at a press conference in China.  

Mr Putin and Mr Modi were on a two-day visit to Tianjin from August 31 to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). 

On Monday, Mr Putin and Mr Modi held an hour-long conversation in the limousine. The Russian President waited for about 10 minutes for PM Modi to join him before boarding the car. The trip to reach the venue for their meeting lasted about 15 minutes, but they spent another 45 minutes in the car to continue their conversation.

"The two leaders continued their one-to-one dialogue on the way to the hotel, where they were to be joined by members of their teams. However, on reaching the hotel, they did not deboard the Russian president's limousine and continued their conversation for a further 45 minutes," Russian national radio station VestiFM reported.

Later, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the two leaders had a tete-a-tete in the car for about an hour. "He did not want to interrupt the important conversation. But the 'home walls' of the car also played a role," Mr Peskov said. 

Experts in Moscow said Mr Putin's presidential limousine is well protected from eavesdropping, and that may be the reason the two leaders were discussing highly sensitive bilateral issues.

Mr Putin is expected to travel to India in December for summit talks with Mr Modi. 

The Alaska summit was held last month, when Mr Trump rolled out a red carpet for Mr Putin for talks on the Russia-Ukraine war but the efforts did not yield any breakthrough. 

President Trump made it clear that "there is no deal until there is a deal", indicating the absence of any proper resolution during the meeting, while President Putin described the talks as "thorough and useful". Mr Putin also said Russia was "sincerely interested in putting an end" to the conflict in Ukraine but flagged "legitimate concerns" to be taken into account.

The two leaders made the remarks during a joint press conference after three hours of talks on Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, a war that has killed thousands of people so far and on which Moscow has not yet relented, making rapid gains just before the summit. Both of them, however, did not take any questions from journalists.

Prior to the high-stakes meeting in Alaska, securing an immediate cessation of hostilities was a core demand of Mr Trump - who had threatened "severe consequences" on Russia - and European leaders, including Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky, who visited Washington days later.