Little more than two weeks after Vladimir Putin took a ride in Donald Trump’s armored limousine at the start of their Alaska summit, the Russian president is embracing back-seat diplomacy again: this time in China with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The spin-cum-meeting in the Russian-made Aurus limo marks a further revving up of Putin’s occasional habit of taking world statesmen literally for a ride.

Leaders including North Korea’s Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang in 2024, United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Moscow last year, and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi in 2018 have joined Putin for a drive in his vehicle, offering the chance for informal chats at what are usually highly structured meetings.

The mini r

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