In a big boost for India, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday (December 30) expressed hope that Russia and India will continue to make efforts to strengthen bilateral cooperation in 2021. He added that Moscow and Delhi would also coordinate their efforts to address issues. current. related to the global and regional agenda.
The Russian president extended Christmas and New Year greetings to President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that Russia and India were connected by privileged strategic partnership relations. Putin noted that while both Russia and India faced difficulties and problems in 2020, including the COVID-19 outbreak, relations between the two countries are moving in the right direction.
A statement issued by the Kremlin said that President Putin wanted Russia and India to have a substantive political dialogue and work together on various projects in various spheres.
He “expressed the hope that next year Russia and India will continue to work to intensify constructive bilateral cooperation as well as coordinate efforts to address current issues on regional and global agendas,” the statement added.
It should be noted that the India-Russia summit was canceled due to the coronavirus in 2020 and this gave China an opportunity to raise questions about the India-Russia relationship.
The Chinese government spokesman Global Times had tried to use this issue to drive a wedge in the relationship between Moscow and New Delhi. Global Times had written in its editorial that this was the first time since 2000 that the India-Russia summit was postponed. The article added that this gives a clear indication of the gap in the relationship between the two countries.
The Global Times editorial also claimed that some analysts believe that Russia and India are not only allies, but that their relationship is far ahead of the alliance. There is no conflict of interest between the two. In recent times, the strategic relationship between Moscow and New Delhi has remained stable. However, the cancellation of the summit indicates something else.
Global Times also falsely claimed that Russian President Putin had pointed out the deterioration of relations with India at the 17th annual meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club in October. Putin mentioned China, Germany, Brazil and South Africa but said nothing about India and this shows that Russia is upset with the growing influence of the United States in India, the Global Times claimed.
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