Moscow: Russian president Vladimir Putin congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi for pursuing an "independent foreign policy" in the best interests of his nation, saying that Russia and India have unique ties and have always supported each other and will continue to do so in the future. He said Russia and India will continue to cooperate in military and technical areas. “We have special ties with India that are built on the foundation of really close allied relations for decades. We never had any outstanding issues with India,” Russian state media RT quoted Putin as saying.
“PM Modi is one of those individuals in the world who is able to pursue an independent foreign policy in the interest of his country, and his people without any attempts to stop him,” said Putin. “A lot has been done in recent years under PM Modi’s leadership,” he said. “(India) is not only the largest democracy, in a good sense of this word, but it should be proud of its growth rate, that’s the basis of its progress,” he said.
Putin joined several global leaders, who have earlier addressed PM Modi’s leadership. In a QUAD meeting, US President Joe Biden had praised the PM and his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic by saying that Modi’s success has shown the world that democracies can deliver.
During COP 26 Summit last year, then UK PM Boris Johnson had commended Modi, saying, “We should unite across the planet to tackle climate change and there is one guy who particularly knows how to do that . . . there is One Sun, One World, One Grid and One Narendra Modi…. ” In his address at the UN, French President Emmanuel Macron had praised Modi’s ‘Not an era of war’ message to Putin.
