Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Moscow’s time-tested relations with India. He also warned that pressure from Western countries on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to weaken India-Russia relations will be harmful for global stability. In response to the question of how India should behave with America, Putin said, ‘India always acts as a sovereign country. And under PM Modi’s leadership, any threat of sanctions will immediately backfire. He also said that India’s economic progress has not happened suddenly, but it is the result of hard work done under the leadership of PM Modi.
Russian President Putin said that India and we have very good and long standing relations in terms of military and technical cooperation. A significant part of the Indian armed forces is equipped with Russian equipment. This tradition has been going on since Soviet times. Our relations with our Indian friends are special because of mutual trust. We focus not only on trade, buying and selling, but also on joint research and development. Indian and Russian experts are working on the design of BrahMos missile.
Russian President Putin said that India always acts as a sovereign country. He said that under PM Modi’s leadership, any potential threat of sanctions would immediately backfire. We have been in talks with PM Modi for a long time. All sanctions have been lifted and as per my knowledge, relations between the US and India are developing successfully. India always keeps its national interests above all.
Our cooperation with India, like all our other partners, is not influenced by the political environment. No one can put pressure on us to stop us from giving that to India. No one can put pressure on us nor will anyone try to do so. We will always live up to the promises we make to our partners, especially partners like India.
Speaking to the media at an event, Putin also praised India’s independent foreign policy. He said that Russia is committed to further expanding its overall cooperation with India and envisages increasing the annual bilateral trade between the two countries from the current US$ 60 billion to US$ 100 billion.
Putin identified clean energy, pharmaceuticals and hydrocarbon sectors as key areas driving the continued progress of trade and investment relations. Putin said that India is one of the leading economies of the world, which has shown the highest economic growth rate. This has not happened suddenly. This is the result of the hard work of the Government of India under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Russian President said that we hope that our bilateral trade will reach 100 billion US dollars in the coming years. We have all the necessary foundations to work more actively and achieve even more ambitious goals. We are not only talking about plans in the energy sector, but new opportunities and platforms will develop in the field of hydrocarbons as well.
Sharply criticizing Western countries for pressurizing India to limit its relations with Russia, Putin said that Moscow has not seen any negative impact of this. He said that such strategies will be counterproductive.
He said that everyone has understood that putting pressure on India, the world’s most populous country, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is harmful for international relations and bilateral relations. It doesn’t matter where this pressure comes from.
Describing India as a reliable strategic partner of Russia, he said that we did not see any negative consequences of this. This comment of the Russian President has come at a time when uneasiness regarding India-Russia relations has increased in some western countries. America has been continuously urging India to reduce the purchase of Russian crude oil.
Putin stressed that India will continue to give top priority to its national interests. He said that India’s diplomatic relations with America do not create any hindrance in its strategic relations with Russia. When asked whether the growing relations between India and America create any uncomfortable situation for Russia, Putin said that I do not think it is a problem.
He said that we are happy that India is developing its relations with all those countries. It is a great country, a big democracy, the biggest democracy, it is natural that it will develop its economy in accordance with its interests with those countries with whom it finds it necessary to do so. Putin said that Russia considers India a reliable partner and does not see any negative impact of New Delhi’s relations with any other country.
The Russian President had visited India in December last year. After his talks with PM Modi, both the countries had announced several important initiatives. These also included a five-year framework to develop a stronger economic partnership and address India’s trade deficit concerns. The main focus of the summit between Modi and Putin was to expand economic cooperation beyond traditional sectors like oil and defence. Both sides showed strong commitment to take the economic partnership to new heights.
After the summit, both the leaders expressed their determination to give new impetus to the more than eight decade old India-Russia friendship. On this occasion, PM Modi had said that the friendship between India and Russia remains as steadfast and stable as the North Star. Putin is going to come to India once again to participate in the BRICS summit to be held in September.
On a question related to Ukraine conflict, Putin said that he wants a solution to this dispute and now the main challenge is to convince Kiev for this. He also rejected the idea that EU countries could play the role of mediator in peace talks with Ukraine.
The Russian President said that instead of supplying arms, the European Union could be more helpful in resolving the conflict if it persuades Kiev to compromise. He said that the Ukraine crisis is a local issue, while the Iran issue is global. Putin said that how can Russia trust those who have been talking about strategically defeating Russia for years?
He said that Russia is ready to support any decision that helps in reducing tension in West Asia. He also questioned the legitimacy of Ukrainian President Zelensky and said that his presidential term has ended. Putin said whether he will hold elections or not? We must ask these questions.
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