Putin invites Modi to Russia, wishes ‘friends every success’ for LS polls

Russian President Vladimir Putin has invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit Russia next year and wished “our friends every success” for the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. He made the remarks to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar who called on the Russian leader at the Kremlin.

Putin also mentioned that “traditional conventional friendly ties” will continue between New Delhi and Moscow “no matter what the alignment of political forces” is.

“We will be glad to see our friend, Mr Prime Minister Modi, in Russia,” Putin told Jaishankar.

The Russian President also spoke about the ongoing war in Ukraine and said that many times, he had advised Modi on “how things have been going there” and knew that PM Modi was “willing to do his utmost so that the issue is resolved by peaceful means”.

Putin said Moscow is “gratified to note that despite all the turmoil happening worldwide, the relationship with our true friend in Asia, India has been progressing incrementally”.

He also said the trade turnover between Russia and India was growing, “for the second year in a row”, particularly because of crude oil and high-technology areas. “The growth rate this year is even higher than in the last year,” he said.

Jaishankar, who is in Moscow on a five-day official visit to Russia, earlier met his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.

During a joint media appearance along with Lavrov after their talks, Jaishankar said he was confident that Prime Minister Modi and President Putin would meet for an annual summit next year. In his opening remarks earlier, Jaishankar said the two leaders have been in frequent contact.

“Honoured to call on President Vladimir Putin this evening. Conveyed the warm greetings of PM @narendramodi and handed over a personal message. Apprised President Putin of my discussions with Ministers Manturov and Lavrov. Appreciated his guidance on the further developments of our ties,” Jaishankar said in his post on X.

So far, 21 annual summits have taken place alternatively in India and Russia. The last summit took place in New Delhi in December 2021.

On Tuesday, Jaishankar held a “comprehensive and productive” meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov on the bilateral economic cooperation during which they witnessed the signing of some “very important” agreements related to the construction of the future power-generating units of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu.

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.

India’s import of Russian crude oil has gone up significantly despite increasing disquiet over it in many Western countries. At the same time, India has maintained that a resolution needs to be found between Russia and Ukraine through dialogue.

(With agency inputs)