Russia-India ties making ‘steady headway’ despite ‘current turbulences’: Putin to Jaishankar

Moscow, December 28

Russia’s relations with India and its people are making “steady headway” despite the “current turbulences” in the world, President Vladimir Putin has said and expressed confidence that the two countries will maintain their traditionally friendly ties in “any alignment of political forces” after elections in India.

Putin’s remarks came on Wednesday when visiting External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar called on him at the Kremlin.

“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 said.

The ties between India and Russia remained strong notwithstanding Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. India has not yet condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and it has been maintaining that the crisis must be resolved through diplomacy and dialogue.

“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 said.

“I have repeatedly informed him about the situation around this conflict. I know about his desire to do everything to resolve this problem peacefully, but we will now talk more about it. We will provide you with additional information about this situation,” Putin said.

Putin said he would be happy to see “our friend”, Prime Minister Modi, in Russia.

“We will have an opportunity to discuss the current issues and talk about the prospects for developing Russian-Indian relations. We have to cover a lot of ground,” Putin said.

“So I would like to ask you to convey to him my best wishes and please, give him our invitation – we are looking forward to seeing him in Russia,” Putin said.

He acknowledged that India’s domestic political calendar is not simple.

“It is complicated considering that India will hold general elections to Prliament. We wish success to our friends in India. We believe we will maintain our traditional friendly ties in any alignment of political forces,” Putin, who is seeking a fifth term in office in March next year, said.

Jaishankar, on his part, conveyed the personal greetings of Prime Minister Modi and also handed over a letter to Putin in which he expressed his thoughts about the state of India-Russia cooperation and the progress that the two sides have made in recent days, according to a press release issued by the Kremlin.

Jaishankar also told Putin that Prime Minister Modi looks forward to visiting Russia next year.

“I am sure that we will find a date which is mutually convenient for the political calendar of both countries. So it is certainly something that he looks forward to,” the Kremlin press release quoted Jaishanar as saying.

Putin also talked about bilateral trade relations.

“Our trade is growing for the second year running and at a confident pace. This year, the growth rates were even higher than last year,” he said.

India’s import of Russian crude oil has gone up significantly despite increasing disquiet over it in many Western countries.

“Our trade is growing for the second year running and at a confident pace. This year, the growth rates were even higher than last year. I don’t remember how many percentage points it grew by last year, but we have already surpassed this figure in the nine months of this year,” the Russian president said.

“It is common knowledge that this is primarily energy resources – oil, oil products and coal, but it’s not just that. We are working together in high-tech areas,” he said.

Jaishankar also informed Putin that bilateral trade has touched more than USD 50 billion.

“We believe that this is something whose potential is now only beginning to be visible. It is important that we give it a more sustainable character, and we discussed how we should do that,” Jaishankar said.

He also pointed out that India and Russia have signed agreements on Tuesday which would take the Kudankulam nuclear power project forward.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Deputy Prime Minister and Chair of the Russian side of the Intergovernmental Russian-Indian Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technical and Cultural Cooperation Denis Manturov and Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov also attended the meeting.