Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed his country’s strategic partnership with India, adding that New Delhi’s cooperation with the United States did not harm India-Russia ties.
On Thursday, speaking to reporters at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, Putin called India a “great country” and a “reliable partner.”
“We are glad that India is developing its relations with all countries it thinks important for its national interests,” Putin told the media.
He said that the US was trying to put pressure on India over its relations with Russia, adding that it was “detrimental” to pressurize Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Everyone has understood that putting pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi (and India) that has the largest population in the world, is detrimental for international relations and for bilateral relations. It doesn’t matter where this pressure comes from,” the Russian leader said.
India and Russia share a relationship that spans decades and is deeply rooted in history and defense. Meanwhile, the US has been asking India to scale back its procurement of Russian crude oil.
Putin said that India is among the world’s major economies and is currently demonstrating “an impressive 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,” news agency PTI quoted Putin as saying.
He expressed confidence that bilateral trade with India was on course to reach $100 billion (€86 billion) mark in the coming years.
“We are engaged in a lot of joint efforts, we hope that in upcoming years, we will reach $100 billion in mutual trade… We have all the foundations to work more actively and to reach more ambitious goals,” PTI reported Putin as saying, dw.com reports.
Meanwhile, the United States President Donald Trump has called Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi his “good friend,” exuding confidence that the US and India would reach a key trade deal.
“We will get to a deal because I like your prime minister a lot (Narendra Modi). He is a good friend of mine. We get along great, and we are gonna make a deal,” Trump said while talking to reporters at the Oval Office.
Washington and New Delhi reached an initial understanding of a trade deal in February, but negotiations stalled after the US Supreme Court struck down Trump’s series of tariff measures.
This week, a US delegation led by chief negotiator Brendan Lynch was in New Delhi to finalize an interim bilateral trade agreement.
When asked about the trade agreement’s negotiations, Trump accused India of exploiting Washington’s policies and charging “tremendous” tariffs, stating that his policies were now reversing the situation.
“For years, India took advantage of the United States… They charged us tremendous tariffs and paid nothing… Now it is the exact reverse, and we are making a lot of money with India,” he said.
Trump’s remarks on the trade deal come after the US announced additional 12.5% tariffs on goods from India and 53 other economies for allegedly failing to prohibit imports made with forced labor.
