Russian President Vladimir Putin has heaped lavish praise upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership and said he is a “true patriot”. The Prime Minister also earned kudos for following an independent foreign policy in the interest of India.
These remarks by the Russian President late on Thursday came against the backdrop of New Delhi, so far, refraining from condemning military action in Ukraine and Modi urging Putin last month on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Uzbekistan that “today’s era is not of war”.
The Prime Minister has all along favoured dialogue and diplomacy to resolve the current conflict. Both the leaders are likely to meet again next month on the sideline of the G-20 summit in Bali, Indonesia.
Moreover, Modi is likely to travel to Russia late this month or early next month for a summit with Putin. External Affairs S Jaishankar will visit Moscow on November 8 to hold talks with Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov and prepare the groundwork for the Prime Minister’s visit.
Addressing a plenary session of the Valdai International Discussion Club, a Moscow-based think tank, Putin also noted that Russia has special ties with India and they have always supported each other and will remain so in the future. Both the countries will continue to co-operate in the military and technical areas, he added.
“We have special ties with India that are built on the foundation of really close allied relations for decades. We never had any outstanding issues with India, we have always supported each other and I’m positive that’s how it will remain in the future as well,” Russian state media RT quoted Putin as saying.
“PM Modi is one of those individuals in the world who is able to pursue an independent foreign policy in the interest of his country, and his people without any attempts to stop him,” said Putin.
Tracing India’ progress, he said it has walked a great development path from being a British colony to its modern state and this has yielded significant results for the country’s almost 1.5 billion people.
“It (India) attracts general respect from everyone in the world. A lot has been done in recent years under Modi’s leadership. He is a true patriot of his country. And this concept of his, ‘Make in India’, is a significant effort. (India) really has progressed in its development. A great future lies ahead of it,” Putin said, according to a translation of his remarks by the Russian Embassy in India.
“(India) is not only the largest democracy, in a good sense of this word, but it should be proud of its growth rate, that’s the basis of its progress and development,” Putin added.
The Russian leader said the economic cooperation between Delhi and Moscow is growing as well. “Modi asked me to increase fertiliser supplies which is crucial for Indian agriculture and we have done that,” he said, adding that the supplies have been increased 7.6 times without giving details.
Putin said he believes that countries such as India not only have a great future ahead of them, but are going to have a growing role in forming global policies. Russia is a longstanding and time-tested defence and strategic partner of India and is a major supplier of military hardware. In October 2018, India signed a USD 5 billion deal with Russia to buy five units of the S-400 air defence missile systems, notwithstanding a warning by the US that going ahead with the contract may invite sanctions under the provisions of Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).