Prime Minister Narendra Modi conducted back-to-back telephone conversations with Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin over the past 24 hours. It comes days after his return from a brief visit to Ukraine in an apparent balancing act between the two blocs.

Modi spoke to Putin on Tuesday, a day after speaking to Biden on Monday, and a common thread in both conversations was Ukraine. As is invariably the case, the Prime Minister announced the conversation via a post on X: “Spoke with President Putin today. Discussed measures to further strengthen Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership. Exchanged perspectives on the Russia-Ukraine conflict and my insights from the recent visit to Ukraine. Reiterated India’s firm commitment to support an early, abiding and peaceful resolution of the conflict.”

He had discussed Ukraine with Biden also. Modi is among the few heads of state with a direct channel of communication with the two principal adversaries in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Over the past month-and-a-half, he is probably the only world leader to have travelled to both capitals. However, there are others who had done so earlier in the conflict.

The Kremlin, in its readout on the conversation, said Modi informed Putin about his “recent visit to Kiev and stressed his commitment to bringing about a settlement for Ukraine by political and diplomatic means”. Further, it said: “Vladimir Putin shared his principled assessment of the destructive policies of the Kiev authorities and their western patrons, and went on to highlight Russia’s approaches to resolving this conflict.”

Modi’s visit to Moscow, where Putin had rolled out the red carpet for him and opened his dacha for dinner with a walk around the premises, had upset Zelensky and disappointed the West including the US.

The short dash to Kyiv from Poland on Friday was seen as a balancing act which the politically savvy Modi could well package as a mediation attempt to his domestic constituency in election season, the way his party had claimed the Prime Minister had got the two sides to stop the war to evacuate Indian students earlier in the conflict.

By a curious turn of events, Modi’s visits to both capitals saw flashpoints — the bombing of a hospital in Kyiv when he was in Moscow, the Ukrainian inroads into Russian territory in Kursk ahead of his Kyiv visit, and Moscow’s retaliation by striking at Ukraine’s energy facilities on Monday. Also, Biden spoke to Zelensky on Friday itself — the day Modi visited Kyiv — and announced a new package of military aid for Ukraine.

The day also saw US state, treasury and commerce departments announce a slew of sanctions against hundreds of individuals and companies linked to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

About Biden’s conversation with Modi, the White House National Security communications adviser John Kirby said: “I think it’s safe to say they certainly talked about Ukraine and the Prime Minister’s trip to Kyiv and the prospects for moving forward in accordance with President Zelensky’s plan for a just peace… We welcome any other country that wants to help President Zelensky work towards this just peace.

“And any country that’s willing to come at that discussion by starting with President Zelensky’s perspective, by hearing him out, by signing on to that proposal — and I won’t speak for India and what they’re signing on to or not; that’s for the Prime Minister and his team to talk to — but we certainly welcome any nation that is willing to be helpful and to start that conversation by ascribing to President Zelensky’s just peace proposal and getting his perspectives.”

Though the Indian readout on the conversation between Modi and Putin made no mention of it, the Kremlin said: “Modi reaffirmed his readiness to take part in the October 2024 Kazan Summit, to be held as part of Russia’s BRICS chairmanship”.

If the visit materialises, it would be Modi’s second trip to Russia in three months.