President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit Russia next year as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar called on the Russian leader in the Kremlin.
The Russian president said that Moscow “is pleased to note that despite all the unrest happening around the world, relations with our true friend in Asia, India, are gradually developing.”
“We will certainly be happy to see our dear friend Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting Russia, we will be able to discuss all relevant current issues and talk about the prospects of Russia-India relationship,” NDTV quoted him as saying.
Regarding the situation in Ukraine, he said that Russia knows the position of Prime Minister Modi and that he has repeatedly informed him about the situation surrounding this conflict.
“I mean his position, his attitude to complicated processes, including hot spots, the situation in Ukraine. I have repeatedly informed him about the situation surrounding this conflict. I know about his efforts to solve this problem by peaceful means…,” the Russian president said.
Talking about the trade between India and Russia, Putin said that our trade has been growing for the second year and at a confident pace, adding that this year the growth rate was even higher than last year.
On his part, Jaishankar said that India and Russia have made substantial progress in trade, which is more than a turnover of 50 billion dollars.
“We believe this is something whose potential is just beginning to be realized. We have to give it a more sustainable character and we discussed how we should do that…,” Jaishankar said
Jaishankar also informed Putin that Prime Minister Modi is looking forward to visiting Russia next year.
Referring to next year’s Lok Sabha elections, Putin said he wished “our friends a lot of success” and stressed that “traditional conventional friendly ties” between Delhi and Moscow would remain “no matter what arrangement of political forces”.
“General elections to parliament are scheduled for next year. We wish our friends a lot of success and we hope that… in any case, regardless of the arrangement of political forces, the traditional conventional friendly ties between our nations will remain,” NDTV quoted the Russian president as saying.
Since the outbreak of the Ukraine conflict, India has consistently pushed for a solution through dialogue.
New Delhi engaged in talks with President Putin and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. During a meeting with the Ukrainian president earlier this year, Prime Minister Modi assured that India was committed to doing everything in its power to resolve the conflict. At a meeting with Putin in Samarkand in 2021, the prime minister emphasized that the current era should not be defined by war.
India resisted Western pressure to align itself with Moscow and, despite international criticism, continued to buy Russian oil even after Western sanctions were imposed in response to Moscow’s actions in Ukraine.
In an interview with NDTV, Jaishankar revealed that the Prime Minister has directed him to take necessary action for the benefit of the country.
