Putin Hails India as “Reliable Partner”
“India is among the world’s major economies and is currently demonstrating an impressive rate of economic growth,” Putin remarked, expressing confidence that bilateral trade between the two nations is on track to hit a USD 100 billion milestone in the coming years.
PTI
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said Russia is determined to broaden its time-tested relations with India and asserted that the US attempts to force New Delhi into scaling back its cooperation with Russia are both futile and damaging to international relations.
In an interaction with heads of leading global news agencies including PTI, Putin lauded India’s economic growth and its independent foreign policy and said Russia is determined to expand its economic engagement with the country.
“India is among the world’s major economies and is currently demonstrating an impressive rate of economic growth,” Putin remarked, expressing confidence that bilateral trade between the two nations is on track to hit a USD 100 billion milestone in the coming years.
Putin said Russia has not seen any negative consequences of Western pressure on India to limit its engagement with Russia, suggesting that such tactics are bound to backfire.
“The US is trying to put pressure on India when it comes to cooperation with Russia on some tracks. But everyone has understood that putting pressure on Narendra Modi (and India), which has the largest population in the world, is detrimental for international relations and for bilateral relations,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter where this pressure comes from,” Putin said, adding, “We don’t see any negative consequences.”
“There are no serious repercussions emanating from the state of affairs. We are developing our ties with India and will continue doing that,” he said.
The Russian president’s remarks came against the backdrop of increasing disquiet in some of the Western capitals over India-Russia relations. The US has constantly been urging India to cut back its procurement of Russian crude oil.
“India is one of the leading economies of the world that has shown the highest rate of economic growth. This is not something that comes out of the blue. This is the result of the hard work that the government of India has been doing under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Putin said in responding to a question from PTI’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Vijay Joshi.
Non-interference in India -China Relations
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said that Moscow will not interfere in the “delicate” bilateral relations between India and China, expressing confidence that both New Delhi and Beijing are committed to resolving their long-standing boundary disputes amicably.
In a wide-ranging interaction with the heads of major global news agencies, Putin praised both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping and said both the leaders are determined to resolve the border issue peacefully.
“This is a delicate, multi-faceted relationship between India and China, and interfering in it is not a good idea. Of course, we interact with both our friends – both India and China,” the Russian president said, responding to a question from PTI’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Vijay Joshi.
“President Xi and Prime Minister Modi are both trying to resolve all the issues of mutual interest, including the border issue,” he said.
India and China rolled out a series of measures in the last over one year to rebuild their relationship after it came under severe strain following the deadly Galwan Valley clashes in 2020 and the subsequent military face-off that lasted for over four years.
Highlighting Moscow’s strategic equilibrium in Asia, President Putin said its decades-long partnerships with both New Delhi and Beijing grew naturally and are entirely independent of one another.
The Russian president also touched upon frosty ties between India and Pakistan.
“We are well aware of the intricacies of the issues concerning the border between India and Pakistan,” he said.
At the same time, Putin said he does not believe Pakistan was under the control of China.
The Russian president also touched upon Russia’s defence and military ties with India and cited the co-development and co-production of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles.
Putin also suggested that Russia proposed to India to work jointly on manufacturing the fifth-generation Su-57 fighter jet.
India is in the process of procuring a batch of fifth-generation fighter jets.
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