Russia our greatest friend: Modi to Putin

July 16, 2014, 9:45 am

Russian President Vladimir Putin lauded the “solid foundation” of Indo-Russian ties during a meet with new Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“There is no question that our relations are strategic in nature and are built on the solid foundation of the longstanding friendship and mutual sympathy between our peoples,” Putin told Modi in Fortaleza.

The two leaders met on the sidelines of the 6th BRICS Summit in Brazil. An earlier bilateral interaction between the two leaders was canceled on Tuesday.

Moscow and New Delhi have long-standing economic and defence ties.

Modi, who is being courted aggressively by US and its ally Japan, after his massive win in the Indian elections this summer, said in Fortaleza that Russia is India’s “greatest friend”.

“If you ask anyone among the more than one billion people living in India who is our country’s greatest friend, every person, every child knows that it is Russia. Everyone knows that Russia has always stood side by side with India during the toughest moments and without demanding anything in return,” Modi told Putin.

Modi also invited Putin to visit the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, a joint-Indo-Russian project in southern India.

India’s state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC), has a large presence in the Tomsk region of Russia.

Russia’s trade with India is currently about $15 billion per year, and by 2015 the Russian government hopes to boost it to $20 billion.

Russia and India have many areas of mutual cooperation, from IT and telecoms to pharmaceuticals and energy.

Earlier on Tuesday, the five BRICS nations signed into creation a $100 billion new development bank.

Putin and Modi, alongwith their other BRICS peers will hold talks with South American leaders in Brasilia today.

TBP