Fact Check: PM Modi asks Putin, ‘if there is anything’ for him at SCO summit? No, here are the facts
A video showing an interaction between PM Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin, where the PM says ‘…anything for me, please let me know’, has gone viral in the backdrop of the 2025 SCO summit in China.
By Md Mahfooz Alam
Claim:PM Modi tells Putin ‘…anything for me, please let me know’ during their interaction at the 2025 SCO summit in China.
Fact:The claim is misleading. The video shows the leaders’ interaction during PM Modi’s visit to Moscow in 2024.
Hyderabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Tianjin, China, on September 1.
PM Modi described the meeting as ‘Always a delight to meet President Putin.’ At the same time, Putin emphasised the symbolic nature of their meeting within the SCO framework. The leaders discussed strengthening their 15-year-old special privileged strategic partnership amid growing international coordination challenges.
Now, a video of PM Modi greeting Russian President Vladimir Putin and saying, “…anything for me, please let me know,” has been widely circulating on social media, with the claim suggesting that the video is from the 2025 Tianjin SCO summit.
In the video, PM Modi and Putin can be seen exiting a building and before getting into a car, PM Modi thanks Putin, who thanks him back. The conversation ends with PM Modi saying, “…anything for me, please let me know,” to which Putin says Okay followed by another thank you.
An X user shared the video with the caption, “PM Modi to Russian President Vladimir Putin: If there is anything for me, please let me know. #PMModiInChina.” (Archive)
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is misleading, as the viral video is from PM Modi’s visit to Moscow in 2024.
A reverse image search of the video’s keyframe led to its extended version published by Bloomberg News on July 11, 2024, titled ‘Putin and Modi Embrace as Indian PM Ends Moscow Visit.’
According to the media outlet, PM Modi was on a two-day visit to Russia. In the video, the Indian PM is indeed heard saying, “…anything for me, please let me know.” Putin says okay and thanks him back, same as in the viral video.
We also found that PM Modi shared several images with Putin of his visit to Moscow on July 9, 2024.
The post is captioned, “Held productive discussions with President Putin at the Kremlin today. Our talks covered ways to diversify India-Russia cooperation in sectors such as trade, commerce, security, agriculture, technology and innovation. We attach great importance to boosting connectivity and people-to-people exchanges.”
A Russian news website, Sputnik Mediabank, published an image on July 9, 2024, titled, ‘Russian President Vladimir Putin bids farewell to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi following their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia.’
We checked online sources stating that PM Modi said that particular phrase to Putin during the 2025 SCO summit in China. We couldn’t find any.
Although we couldn’t find the context behind their exchange, we can conclude that the video was not shot during their interaction during the SCO summit in China in 2025. It is a video from PM Modi’s visit to Moscow in 2024.
The claim is misleading.
