Russian President Putin reaffirms strategic partnership with India, backs expansion of bilateral ties

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has hailed Moscow’s strategic partnership with New Delhi and asserted that Western attempts to force India into scaling back its cooperation with Russia are futile and damaging to global stability. In an interaction with heads of leading global news agencies, Putin lauded India’s economic growth and its independent foreign policy and said Russia is determined to expand its economic engagement with the country. He said that India’s economic growth is the result of the hard work that the government of India has been doing under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Russian President said that India’s diplomatic engagement with the United States does not hinder or undermine its time-tested relationship with Russia. He said Russia considers India as a reliable partner and it sees no negative consequences from New Delhi’s bilateral relations with any other country. He said that India is a great nation and a democracy, and Russia will continue to expand its relations with it.