Russia, Türkiye condemn Israeli strikes against Iran in phone call: Kremlin

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan condemned Israel's "act of force" against Iran and called for an immediate cessation of hostilities over a phone conversation, a Kremlin statement said on Monday.

However, Russia's public condemnation of Tel Aviv—as well as its offer to accept enriched uranium from Iran—is a significant diplomatic shift that could risk its ties with India.

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"Both sides expressed the most serious concern about the ongoing escalation of the Iran-Israel conflict, which has already led to a large number of casualties and is fraught with serious long-term consequences for the entire region," the Kremlin statement added,as per a Reuters report.

This comes amid New Delhi's hesitation to join world leaders in criticising Israel's 'Operation Rising Lion' just two days ago, on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Summit (SCO). 

Although the official SCO statement against Israel did not reflect any objection from India, the latter was quick to issue a separate statement clarifying the same. 

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Iran, China, Russia and Pakistan are other important full members of the SCO, while Türkiye is not, in any capacity.

Since India has long been one of Russia’s most reliable partners—economically, militarily, and diplomatically—it is likely not to publicly respond to Russia's latest move. 

However, these dependencies are gradually being re-evaluated as India widens its arms procurement net by importing munitions from France, the US, and Israel.

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In a bid to counter Türkiye further and solidify its relations with the European Union, Indian PM Narendra Modi visited to Cyprus on Sunday regarding the India-Middle East-Europe Corridor (IMEC) trade link. 

It was also aimed at countering Istanbul's alignment with Pakistan, since Northern Cyprus, once part of a Cypriot nation with the Republic of Cyprus, is a de facto territory managed by Türkiye.  

India is expected to support Israel's right to defend itself at the G7 summit, further aligning itself with the US and EU in this matter, especially German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who has called for Iran's nuclear disarmament, and French President Emmanuel Macron, who has rejected Moscow's bid to mediate the Israel-Iran conflict, which was suggested by Trump.

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