From Xi to Modi to Kim, Russia’s Putin is meeting a lot of world leaders for a global outcast

President Vladimir Putin is on a diplomatic roll at home and abroad, defying efforts by the US and its allies to cast him as an international pariah over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In just two months since he began his fifth presidential term in May, Putin has held more than 20 meetings with leaders from Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East.

Putin has also made six foreign visits, even as his scope for travel has been limited since the International Criminal Court last year issued an arrest warrant against him for alleged war crimes in Ukraine.

Many of his interlocutors were from former Soviet nations that feel obliged to maintain good ties with Russia, or came from states that share Putin’s anti-US stance. But others represent countries that have sought to maintain a neutral position on the war, showing that the Russian leader’s efforts to court the so-called Global South as a counterweight to the US-dominated world order is paying dividends.

Putin lost no time in renewing his friendship with Chinese President Xi Jinping, flying to Beijing little more than a week after being sworn in for another six-year term. They met again this month on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Kazakhstan. Xi, whose backing has helped Russia to withstand unprecedented Western sanctions over the war in Ukraine, said China “always stood on the right side of history” as he and Putin pledged to “strengthen comprehensive strategic coordination.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Moscow this week, his first to Russia in five years, sends a clear signal about India’s determination to keep close to Russia amid the deepening Chinese-Russian embrace. New Delhi remains a major buyer of Russian weapons even as it’s diversifying its defence needs and has become increasingly reliant on discounted oil from Russia since the war in Ukraine started.