On Thursday (7th December), Russian President Vladimir Putin heaped praises on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said that PM Modi cannot be intimidated or forced to take any decision that would be against India’s interests. He lauded PM Modi’s tough stance regarding the issues of national interests. Putin made these remarks while addressing the 14th VTB Investment Forum ‘Russia Calling’.
According to a report by news agency ANI, Vladimir Putin said, “I cannot imagine that Modi could be intimidated, intimidated or forced to take any actions, steps and decisions that are contrary to the national interests of India and the people of India. And there is pressure against him, I am aware of that. By the way, he and I never even talked about this. I just look at what is happening from the outside, and sometimes, to be honest, I’m even surprised at his tough position on defending the national interests of the Indian state.”
About the bilateral relations between India and Russia, he said, “First of all, let me say that the relations between Russia and India are consistently developing in all the areas. And the main guarantor for that is the policy led by Prime Minister Modi. He is one of the politicians of the global scale that I was talking about previously without giving the names.”
Vladimir Putin also underlined that the trade between India and Russia is growing. He said, “Last year it was 35 billion dollars per year, and in the first half of this year it was already 33.5 billion. That is, the growth will be significant. Yes, we all understand that, to a large extent, India receives preferences due to discounts on Russian energy resources. Well, he’s actually doing the right thing.”
Vladimir Putin added, “If I were them, I would also do the same if the situation develops this way. They make money, and rightly so. But, of course, this is not enough. We have much more opportunities. In the global ranking of the world’s economies by purchasing power parity and by economic volume, India ranks third in this list and Russia fifth.”
Vladimir Putin further clarified that Russia is very interested in increasing trade with India. He said, “Let me remind you, China, the United States, India, Japan, Russia. The three. largest economies in the world by purchasing power parity. Of course, if our trade turnover with China this year is close to 200 billion, it would be right for us to increase it with India.”
Vladimir Putin has praised PM Narendra Modi and his policies earlier
This is not the first time that Vladimir Putin has praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his various policies. On 4th October 2023, Vladimir Putin said, “We share very good political relations with Prime Minister Modi, he is a very wise man. And India has been making very great strides in development under his leadership. This fully meets the interest of both India and Russia to work on this agenda.”
On 12th September 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ policy while speaking at the 8th Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Russia’s port town of Vladivostok. He noted that Russia should “learn from India” and that PM Modi was “doing just the right thing” by encouraging Indians to use products made in India and promoting the programme.
He said, “You know, we did not have domestically made cars then (in the 1990s) but we do now. They indeed look more modest than Mercedes or Audi cars, which we bought in vast amounts in the 1990s, but this is not an issue. I think that we should learn from many of our partners, for example, India. They are focused on the manufacture and use of Indian-made vehicles. I think that Prime Minister Modi is doing the right thing in promoting the Make in India program. He is right.”