India-Russia ties: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday praised India for pursuing an independent foreign policy and warned outside forces to not “play games” for political clout in New Delhi, Sputnik reported. He further remarked that India has one of the highest rates of economic development and credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership for the same. 

Speaking to students in Kaliningrad Region on the occasion of ‘Russian Student Day’, Putin said, “India has an independent foreign policy, which is not easy in today’s world. But India, with a population of 1.5 billion, has the right to do so. And under the leadership of the prime minister, that right is being realised. This is not just a statement. It is important from the point of view of organising joint work, because it makes it possible to forecast the actions of our partners in the medium and longer term.”

“Can we rely on the country and the leadership of the country we are cooperating with? Or will it make decisions tomorrow that do not even correspond to its national interests? Such games do not work with India… It’s a tough, nationally-oriented country leadership there and it’s developing rapidly on all fronts,” the Russian President added.

The Russian President also lauded India’s ‘Make in India’ initiative and said that Russia is one of the highest investors in the country and is further looking forward to making huge investments there. Putin asserted that Russia can rely on India and its leadership because it is assured that New Delhi won’t play ‘games’ against them on the international stage.

“India is a great culture. It’s very interesting, diverse and colourful. Russia is probably the few places around the world where Indian movies are broadcast on national television. I don’t know of any other country like that. There are a lot of things that connect us,” the Russian President added.

India-Russia relations

Recently, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar was on a visit to Russia from December 25-29 last year, as a part of the ongoing high-level exchanges between the two sides. During the visit, Putin invited PM Modi to Russia as India signed three documents relating to the Kudan Kulam Nuclear Power Plants, an MoU on cooperation in pharmaceuticals and healthcare and a Protocol on Foreign Office Consultation.

In the past, the Russian President has been full of praise for the Indian Prime Minister. Last month, Putin said the relations between India and Russia are developing progressively under all trajectories under PM Modi’s guarantee. The Kremlin leader also said that he was “surprised” by PM Modi’s tough stance on defending the national security interests of India.

“I want to say that relations between Russia and India are developing progressively along all trajectories, and the main guarantor of this is the policy pursued by the prime minister, Mr Modi,” the Russian leader said at the event. The Russian President also asserted the importance of increasing settlements in national currencies between Russia and India, emphasising that Russia stands for a “truly democratic model” of global economic development.

Earlier in October, Putin called PM Modi “a very wise man” under whom New Delhi has been making great strides in development, during a keynote address in Sochi. He also slammed Western countries for creating a rift between India and Russia, saying that they will prove fruitless. He also praised New Delhi’s handling of the high-level G20 Summit held on September 9-10 in New Delhi, saying that the Indian Prime Minister managed to depoliticise the decisions made at the summit as politicisation of the G20 was the “path to destroy it”.

(with agency inputs)

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