Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday heaped praises on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that the relations between India and Russia are developing progressively under all trajectories under the latter's guarantee. The Kremlin leader also said that he was "surprised" by PM Modi's tough stance on defending the national security interests of India.
While addressing the "Russia Calling!" Forum, Putin asserted that PM Modi cannot be intimidated by any pressure from unfriendly countries, reported TASS news agency. "I want to say that relations between Russia and India are developing progressively along all trajectories, and the main guarantor of this is the policy pursued by the prime minister, Mr Modi," the Russian leader said at the event.
Speaking on international pressure, Putin said that he "cannot imagine that Modi could be frightened, intimidated or forced to take any actions, steps, decisions that would be at variance with the national interests of India and the Indian people".
"I just look at what is happening from the outside, and sometimes, frankly speaking, I am even surprised at his tough stance on defending the national interests of the Indian state," Putin further noted in his praise of PM Modi at the investment forum.
The Russian President also asserted the importance of increasing settlements in national currencies between Russia and India, emphasising that Russia stands for a "truly democratic model" of global economic development, reported Sputnik.
Putin's earlier praise of PM Modi
Earlier in October, Putin called PM Modi "a very wise man" under whom New Delhi has been making great strides in development, during a keynote address in Sochi. He also slammed Western countries for creating a rift between India and Russia, saying that they will prove fruitless.
"At a certain point in time, they tried to do the same with India. Now they are flirting, of course. We all understand this very well. We feel and see the situation in Asia. Everything is clear. I want to say that the Indian leadership is independent. It is led by the national interests. I think that those attempts make no sense. But, they continue. They are trying to cast Arabs as the enemy. They are trying to be careful, but overall, that's what it all boils down to," he said during his speech, further saying that such attempts to create rifts between India and Russia are "pointless".
"We (Russia) 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," Putin said. He further expressed hope for further cooperation between Russia and India in the field of financial security and the fight against cybercrime.
He also praised New Delhi's handling of the high-level G20 Summit held on September 9-10 in New Delhi, saying that the Indian Prime Minister managed to depoliticise the decisions made at the summit as politicisation of the G20 was the "path to destroy it".
(with agency inputs)
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