At the Kremlin on Wednesday, Putin made these comments during a visit from visiting External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
President Vladimir Putin stated that Russia’s relations with India and its people are “steady headway” in spite of the “current turbulences” in the world. He also expressed confidence that the two nations will uphold their long-standing friendly ties in “any alignment of political forces” following the elections in India.
Putin made these comments on Wednesday during a visit to the Kremlin by visiting External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. “We are very pleased to note that despite the current turbulences in the world, relations with our traditional friends in Asia, with India and the Indian people are making steady headway,” Putin stated.
Despite Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, India and Russia maintained a close relationship. India has insisted that diplomacy and communication are the only ways to address the situation and has not yet denounced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“We know Prime Minister Modi’s position and we have repeatedly spoken about this, the position concerning his attitude to complex processes, including hotspots, to the situation in Ukraine,” Putin stated. “I’ve told him about the circumstances around this dispute on several occasions. I am aware of his intention to take all reasonable steps to find a peaceful solution to this issue, but we will now discuss it in more detail. We will furnish you with further details regarding this circumstance,” stated Putin.
Putin expressed his happiness at having “our friend,” Prime Minister Modi, visit Russia.
We will get the chance to talk about the existing problems and the future of relations between Russia and India. We have a great deal of territory to cover,” Putin stated. Thus, I kindly request that you extend our invitation to him and wish him well. “We eagerly anticipate his arrival in Russia,” stated Putin. He admitted that the domestic political calendar of India is not an easy one.
“Given that India will hold general elections for the parliament, it is challenging. We hope our friends in India have success. “We think we’ll keep our long-standing cordial relations in any political force alignment,” stated Putin, who will run for president again in March of the next year. According to a press release from the Kremlin, Jaishankar, for his part, delivered a letter to Putin expressing his views on the current state of India-Russia cooperation and the advancements that the two countries have made recently. He also personally greeted Prime Minister Modi.
Jaishankar also informed Putin that he was looking forward to Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Russia in 2019.
“I’m confident we can work out a time that works for both of our countries’ political schedules. Thus, he undoubtedly looks forward to it,” Jaishanar was quoted in the Kremlin press release as adding. Additionally, Putin discussed bilateral trade connections. “For the second year in a row, our trade is expanding at a confident rate. The growth rates were considerably higher this year than they were the previous,” he stated. Even while there is growing unease about Russian crude oil in many Western nations, India’s imports of it have increased dramatically.
“For the second year in a row, our trade is expanding at a confident rate. The growth rates were considerably higher this year than they were the previous. We have already exceeded this amount in the first nine months of this year; I’m not sure how many percentage points it increased by last year,” the Russian president declared.
Although it is widely known, this encompasses more than only energy resources like coal, oil, and oil products. We are collaborating in high-tech fields,” he stated. Jaishankar also told Putin that over USD 50 billion had been traded bilaterally.
“In our opinion, the potential of this is just now starting to become apparent. We talked about how we should accomplish it, and it is crucial that we give it a more sustainable character,” Jaishankar stated. He further mentioned that agreements that will advance the nuclear power project at Kudankulam were reached by Russia and India on Tuesday. Presidential Assistant Yury Ushakov, Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov were among the attendees of the intergovernmental Russian-Indian Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technical, and Cultural Cooperation.
