Modi pressed for ending the Ukraine conflict at the earliest, reaffirmed India’s long-standing ties with Russia, and discussed trade and border issues with Xi.
Before their formal meeting, Putin offered Modi a ride in his Aurus limousine.
Vivek Mishra works as an Assistant Editor with Eastern Eye and has over 13 years of experience in journalism. His areas of interest include politics, international affairs, current events, and sports. With a background in newsroom operations and editorial planning, he has reported and edited stories on major national and global developments.
INDIAN prime minister Narendra Modi met Russian president Vladimir Putin and Chinese president Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin, China.
Modi pressed for ending the Ukraine conflict at the earliest, reaffirmed India’s long-standing ties with Russia, and discussed trade and border issues with Xi.
Modi, in his address, called the Pahalgam terror attack “an assault on India’s conscience” and “an open challenge to every nation that believes in humanity.” He said combating terrorism is a “duty towards humanity.” The SCO declaration echoed this, with leaders strongly condemning the attack and stressing the need for united global efforts against terrorism.
“The member states strongly condemned the terrorist attack in Pahalgam on April 22,” it said.
“They (member states) expressed their deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the dead and the wounded. They further stated that perpetrators, organisers and sponsors of such attacks must be brought to justice,” the declaration said.
2. Modi–Xi meeting on trade and border issues
Modi and Xi agreed to expand trade and investment ties to stabilise global commerce and deepen cooperation to address common challenges.
Modi thanked Xi, the Chinese government and the people of China for the successful organisation of the summit, his first visit to the country in seven years.
Modi said an atmosphere of "peace and stability" has been created on their disputed Himalayan border, the site of a prolonged military standoff after deadly troop clashes in 2020, which froze most areas of cooperation between the nuclear-armed strategic rivals.
3. Modi–Putin meeting on Ukraine and bilateral cooperation
Modi told Putin, “The call of humanity is to end the conflict as soon as possible and find ways to bring permanent peace to the region.”
He welcomed peace initiatives and emphasised a durable settlement. Putin, addressing Modi as “Dear Mr Prime Minister, dear friend,” said Russia and India had maintained “friendly and trusting” ties for decades.
The leaders discussed cooperation in trade, fertilisers, space, energy, security and culture, reaffirming the “Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership.”
4. Modi–Putin private conversation in limousine
Before their formal meeting, Putin offered Modi a ride in his Aurus limousine.
The two leaders held a one-to-one conversation for nearly an hour inside the car.
Modi later shared a photograph on social media, writing, “Conversations with him are always insightful.”
Modi said India is waiting to receive Putin later this year. The Russian president is scheduled to travel to India in December for summit talks.
5. Xi’s call for SCO development bank
Xi Jinping said the SCO’s “international influence and appeal are increasing day by day.”
He urged members to accelerate creation of a development bank and announced initiatives including scholarships, PhD programmes, livelihood projects and AI cooperation centres.
He also proposed closer cooperation in energy, infrastructure, digital economy, science and green industries.
6. Condemnation of Gaza strikes
The SCO members also criticised the military strikes by Israel in Gaza, noting that they have caused civilian casualties and created a humanitarian crisis in the region.
The SCO also condemned terror strikes in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, including those in Khuzdar and on the Jaffer Express.
HATE crimes recorded by the police in England and Wales have risen sharply, with religiously aggravated and racially motivated incidents registering a significant spike, according to the latest statistics released by the Home Office last Thursday (9).
Police forces logged 115,990 hate crimes in the year ending March 2025, a two per cent increase compared with the previous year. Race hate offences accounted for the majority at 71 per cent or 82,490 offences, followed by religious hate crimes at 7,164 offences.
Within these figures, anti-Muslim hate crimes reached a record high of 4,478 offences (45 per cent), followed by 2,873 (29 per cent) anti-Jewish crimes, 502 antiChristian hate offences (five per cent), 259 (three per cent) anti-Sikh and 182 (two per cent) anti-Hindu hate crimes.
“Hate crime statistics show that too many people are living in fear because of who they are, what they believe, or where they come from,” said home secretary Shabana Mahmood.
Professor Anand Menon
“Jewish and Muslim communities continue to experience unacceptable levels of often violent hate crime, and I will not tolerate British people being targeted simply because of their religion, race, or identity.”
Police patrols have been increased at synagogues and mosques around the UK following recent terror attack at a Manchester synagogue, Mahmood said.
Police forces in England and Wales are facing mounting pressure to strengthen hate crime enforcement and rebuild confidence among minority communities.
Community groups have urged the government to introduce mandatory anti-racism training within the police, alongside improved victim support and outreach in areas with growing South Asian populations.
Stephen Walcott, head of policy at the Runnymede Trust, told Eastern Eye the current wave of violence “cannot be divorced from a political agenda which sows hatred and divisions, and is promoted by the British media consistently”.
He said successive governments and mainstream parties have “flirted with racist politics for years – demonising migrants, asylum seekers and Muslims to distract from policies that have hollowed out communities and inflicted deep poverty.”
Walcott linked this to figures such as farright agitator Tommy Robinson and billionaire backers “including Elon Musk” who exploit racial tensions and “treat people of colour in the UK with complete contempt”.
Scenes of mourning in Southport after the murder of three young girls
The Home Office pointed to a “clear spike” in religious hate crimes targeted at Muslims in August last year, following the murder of schoolgirls at a Taylor Swiftthemed dance class in Southport and the subsequent misinformation around the UK-born attacker’s motivations and immigration status.
The number of religious hate crimes targeted at Jewish people fell by 18 per cent, from 2,093 to 1,715 offences, but the Home Office cautioned that these figures exclude data from the Metropolitan Police – which recorded a major chunk of all religious hate crimes targeted at Jewish people. This exclusion of Met Police statistics from the overall analysis is due to a change in the force’s crime recording system since February 2024, which restricts comparisons with data supplied in previous years.
Over the past two years, there have been at least eight major racially motivated attacks and violent incidents targeting south Asians. The surge, documented by police and academic researchers, shows a pattern of abuse, from verbal harassment to deadly assaults, with victims and campaigners warning that racism has become both more visible and more vicious.
A University of Leicester study, launched in parliament in 2024, revealed that 45 per cent of Asians in the UK experienced hate crime during 2023–2024, and 55 per cent of them suffered multiple incidents.
However, only one in 10 victims reported these crimes to the police, citing mistrust and a lack of confidence in authorities.
Most perpetrators were under 30 and often acted in groups, according to the study, with attacks ranging from public slurs and threats to serious assaults, sexual violence and murder.
Prominent incidents include the recent racially aggravated rape of a Sikh woman in Oldbury, the murder of 80-year-old Bhim Kohli in Leicester (2024), and coordinated riots in Hartlepool, Middlesbrough and Rotherham that targeted Asian communities and asylum seekers.
Large cities including London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leicester continue to report spikes in racially motivated attacks, with many Asians saying they now alter their routines, avoiding public transport at night or refraining from speaking in their native languages in public, to avoid harassment.
Professor Anand Menon, director of UK in a Changing Europe at King’s College London, said there is “very little doubt that the political language around race and race relations has become much nastier in recent years”.
“It’s obviously connected to the rising salience of immigration as an issue, and to the increasing popularity of a populist party that is willing to stress the cultural as well as the economic impact of immigration. So, it shouldn’t be wholly surprising that we’re seeing a rise in hate crimes,” he told Eastern Eye. Menon noted that Britain lives in “very polarised times – not just in politics, but in the wider world too, from what’s happening in Gaza to what (US president) Donald Trump is doing.”
“At a minimum, we’ve got a right to expect the head of a notionally progressive, centre-left party to speak out much more firmly and much more quickly against racism than he’s been willing to do. His reaction was quite slow and quite delayed, and people notice that,” Menon said.
He suggested that economic insecurity lies at the root of rising hate crimes. “We’ve had 15 to 20 years of very poor economic performance. People have seen wages stagnate, inflation and prices go up, and a housing crisis develop, because we haven’t built enough homes.
“When people feel economically insecure, they’re more prone to turn their anger towards immigrants and blame them for everything that’s going wrong.”
Campaigners also noted the escalation in hate crime after the Covid-19 pandemic. Hate incidents against Asians trebled in 2020, and levels have remained persistently high since. The latest England and Wales figures show decreases in hate crimes based on sexual orientation, down two per cent to 18,702 from 19,127, and disability hate crimes, which decreased by eight per cent from 11,131 to 10,224.
There was also a fall in transgender hate crimes by 11 per cent from 4,258 to 3,809, the second consecutive annual fall.
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