New Delhi, Oct 21 (IANS): A day ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's departure to Kazan for the 16th BRICS Summit, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar hailed the longstanding and time-tested India-Russia relationship which has advanced to Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership over the past 10 years.
"If you look at our history with Russia after Independence, Russia has never done anything to impact our interests negatively. Among the major countries, there are not many about whom you can say this," Jaishankar said at the NDTV World Summit.
In July, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Moscow on a two-day visit to Russia - his first to the country since 2019 and first to its capital after 2015.
During the visit, Russian President Vladimir Putin conferred PM Modi with the Order of St. Andrew the Apostle the First-Called, Russia's highest civilian award.
A lot had changed in the region after the start of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022 but India-Russia partnership has remained resilient in the wake of multiple geopolitical challenges that the world has been facing.
"Today Russia's situation is different, I think Russia's relationship with the West has obviously broken down. So, you have a Russia which is turning much more towards Asia. We need to ask ourselves that if Russia is looking at Asia, should Russia not have multiple options in Asia? Should we not do what is good for us in national interests?" the EAM stated.
While New Delhi has maintained a steady relationship with Moscow even as PM Modi repeatedly asserted that no solution can ever be arrived at the cost of human lives and that escalation of hostilities and violence is in no one's interest, India-Russia bilateral trade continues to increase, touching close to $65 billion in 2023-24, primarily due to strong energy cooperation between the two countries.
"Clearly, Russia as a major natural resources power has a complementarity with India at this stage of development when we are big resource consumers. It isn't just Russian oil, it could be fertilisers, metals, coal. There is a whole economic logic to it. There is also a basic strategic logic, that if you look at the Eurasian landmass, there are three big countries. You always keep a balance, a relationship with the further away country in a very good state," added Jaishankar.
At the same time, the Russian President continues to hail India's rising global stature and the strength of its growing economy under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi.
Putin and Modi are scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Kazan which is being held under the theme of 'Strengthening Multilateralism for Just Global Development and Security' and will provide an important platform for leaders to discuss key global issues.