St. Petersburg, Jun 4: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said Russia is determined to broaden its time-tested relations with India and asserted that the US attempts to force New Delhi into scaling back its cooperation with Russia are both futile and damaging to international relations.
In an interaction with heads of leading global news agencies including PTI, Putin lauded India’s economic growth and its independent foreign policy and said Russia is determined to expand its economic engagement with the country.
“India is among the world’s major economies and is currently demonstrating an impressive rate of economic growth,” Putin remarked, expressing confidence that bilateral trade between the two nations is on track to hit a USD 100 billion milestone in the coming years.
Putin said Russia has not seen any negative consequences of Western pressure on India to limit its engagement with Russia, suggesting that such tactics are bound to backfire.
“The US is trying to put pressure on India when it comes to cooperation with Russia on some tracks. But everyone has understood that putting pressure on Narendra Modi (and India) that has the largest population in the world, is detrimental for international relations and for bilateral relations,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter where this pressure comes from,” Putin said, adding “We don’t see any negative consequences.”
“There are no serious repercussions emanating from the state of affairs. We are developing our ties with India and will continue doing that,” he said.
The Russian president’s remarks came against the backdrop of increasing disquiet in some of the Western capitals over India-Russia relations. The US has constantly been urging India to cut back its procurement of Russian crude oil.
“India is one of the leading economies of the world that has showed the highest rate of economic growth. This is not something that comes out of the blue. This is result of the hardwork that the government of India has been doing under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Putin said in responding to a question from PTI’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Vijay Joshi.
The Russian President emphasised that New Delhi will continue to prioritise its own national interests, adding that India’s diplomatic engagement with the United States does not hinder or undermine its time-tested relationship with Russia.
“We are glad that India is developing its relations with all countries it thinks important for its national interests,” Putin said when asked whether India’s deep alignment with Washington creates structural friction for Russia.
Putin said Russia considers India as a “reliable partner” and it sees no negative consequences from New Delhi’s bilateral relations with any other country.
“India is a great nation and democracy and Russia will continue to expand its relations with it,” he said.
The Russian president, responding to a question on the conflict in Ukraine, said he was open to resolving it and the task now is to convince Kyiv.
Putin also dismissed the idea that European Union countries could act as mediators in peace talks with Ukraine.
He said that the EU could help resolve the conflict by persuading Kyiv to compromise instead of supplying it with weapons.
Putin said the Ukraine crisis is “local” issue, while the Iran issue is a global one.
“How can Russia trust people who have been harping about the need to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia for years?” he said.
The Russian leader said his country is ready to support any decision that could contribute to de-escalation in West Asia.
Putin also questioned Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s legitimacy as the president, saying the Ukrainian leader’s presidential mandate has expired.
“Will they hold elections or not? We should ask these questions,” he said in response to a question. (PTI)
