Russia and India: A friend in need is a friend indeed

During his recent visit to Russia Calling Investment Forum, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke about Russia's relations with India.

Photo: kremlin.ru

The Russian President praised Indian Prime Minister Modi's resilience under the conditions of strong external pressure. Earlier last year, Putin praised the "Made in India” initiative and said that Russia was inspired by its partners' success in the developing domestic industry, The Times of India notes.

The relations between Russia and India have been developing positively in all areas, Putin noted. In addition, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi becomes the guarantor of this process.

The trade turnover between Russia and India increased over the past year and reached 35 billion dollars. It already amounted to 33.5 billion in the first six months of this year, the article in the Indian newspaper said.

"Of course, this is not enough. We have much more opportunities. India comes third in the world ranking of economies in terms of purchasing power parity and economic volume, while Russia is ranked fifth,” the Russian president said.

Speaking about the prospects for trade relations, Putin emphasised the need to develop the Northern Sea Route and called it "a very promising direction in the field of logistics.”

Readers noted in the comments section to The Times of India article that one could rely on Russia in difficult times, whereas the United States could dump anyone at any moment.

India remains one of Russia's leading trading partners. Indian oil refineries purchase large volumes of Russian oil.

Representatives of the Indian authorities recently said that the sanctions that Western countries impose on companies that transport energy resources from Russia would not affect Russian oil imports.

The United States is trying to get India involved in a close, if not allied relationship. Washington tries to avoid talking about sanctions against India, even though the US administration does not hide its dissatisfaction with the fact that India has become one of the largest buyers of Russian oil.