Diplomacy usually happens across negotiating tables. Lately, cars have come into picture as well.
The two leaders travelled together in the Russian leader’s limousine to the INNOPROM exhibition at Bharat Mandapam after their bilateral meeting. INNOPROM – the International Industrial Exhibition is a global platform that brings together manufacturers and buyers from around the world. It provides an opportunity to showcase cutting-edge technologies, access the international market, and serve as an effective B2B platform for productive networking.
The latest exhibit was in New Delhi when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian president Vladimir Putin embraced on Friday before talks on trade, energy and defence and then travelled together in the latter’s armoured Aurus Senat limousine, a day ahead of the 11-member BRICS summit. Putin last visited India in December 2025, but the two leaders met earlier this month at a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Kyrgyzstan.
It’s the same car that made headlines after PM Modi rode in it with Putin during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in China last year. Earlier, during their bilateral talks, PM Modi gifted Putin a Russian translation of the Thirukkural, the classical Tamil scripture composed by the weaver-saint Thiruvalluvar.
“Two thousand years ago, Thiruvalluvar wrote the Thirukkural. It includes the entire gamut of human life. It has been translated into the Russian language. In a subsequent post on X, PM Modi wrote, “Presented President Putin with a Russian translation of the Thirukkural, which carries the eternal wisdom of the great Thiruvalluvar across languages and borders. Moscow is one of New Delhi’s most important strategic partners and military suppliers, with the two leaders shown by broadcasters grinning and patting each other on the back at the New Delhi conference centre where Saturday’s summit will be held.
I am confident that the people-to-people contact will increase with the translation of the Thirukkural into Russian, which will play a big role in strengthening our relations,” PM Modi told Putin.
