On day two of his visit to Russia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will continue his discussions with President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.

“Around noon, Putin and Modi will start their talks. We expect there will be a private conversation followed by official Russian-Indian talks over breakfast,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the state-owned TASS news agency.

PM Modi will co-chair the 22nd India-Russia annual summit with President Putin. However, the two leaders will not address the media afterward, according to Peskov.

“No joint communication with the media is planned,” he said. “But we anticipate a thorough exchange of views in both the private and extended sessions, which will largely compensate for the absence of media statements.”

After his meeting with Putin on Monday night, Modi shared on social media: “Gratitude to President Putin for hosting me at Novo-Ogaryovo this evening. Looking forward to our talks tomorrow as well, which will surely go a long way in further cementing the bonds of friendship between India and Russia.”

This visit marks PM Modi’s first bilateral trip after being re-elected for a third term and his first since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. He brings a clear message that India seeks to “play a supportive role for a peaceful and stable region.”

At their last in-person bilateral meeting in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on the sidelines of the SCO Summit in September 2022, Modi told Putin, “this is not the era of war”—a statement later included in the G20’s Bali declaration and used by Western leaders to urge Russia to end the war.

With Russia now having an upper hand in the Ukraine war and the potential return of Donald Trump as US President, Modi’s visit is seen as Delhi positioning itself for the upcoming geopolitical shifts.

The war has placed India in a delicate position with its Western allies. New Delhi has walked a diplomatic tightrope, not explicitly condemning the Russian invasion but calling for an international probe into the Bucha massacre and expressing concern over threats of nuclear war by Russian leaders. India has maintained it is on the side of “peace, respect for international law and support for the UN Charter” and has reiterated the importance of sovereignty and territorial integrity of states, indirectly questioning Russia’s actions.

Modi’s visit to Russia coincides with the gathering of NATO leaders in Washington DC from July 9-11 to celebrate 75 years of the alliance.

RSS-linked magazine pushes for national population policy

Organiser, the RSS-linked weekly, has in its latest issue advocated for a national population policy. It highlighted a “population imbalance” due to a “rising Muslim population” compared to Hindus and mentioned lower birth rates putting western and southern states at a “disadvantage” during delimitation.

With delimitation expected during Modi’s third term, the magazine’s emphasis on the southern “disadvantage” is notable as redrawing electoral boundaries is likely to benefit the BJP, which wins most of its seats in north India.

Echoing concerns expressed by Opposition parties, especially from south India, about delimitation, the magazine’s editor Prafulla Ketkar wrote, “Regional imbalance is another critical dimension that will impact the delimitation process of the Parliamentary Constituencies in the future. The States from the West and South are doing relatively better regarding population control measures and, therefore, fear losing a few seats in Parliament if the base population is changed after the census.”

The magazine’s stance comes weeks before the first Budget Session of the 18th Lok Sabha begins on July 22. In the interim Budget speech in February, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced plans to set up a high-powered committee to address challenges posed by rapid population growth and demographic changes, but the committee has yet to be formed.

Rajasthan Congress meeting

The Congress Legislature Party in Rajasthan will meet on Tuesday to discuss its strategy for the Budget session of the Assembly, followed by “training” for newly-elected MLAs, according to Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Swarnim Chaturvedi.

The Budget Session of the Assembly is currently ongoing, with the Budget scheduled to be presented on July 10.