Modi: Indo-Russia Ties Like Pole Star

New Delhi: The India-Russia ties are like the “Pole Star” and have stood the test of time, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday after talks with his “friend”, Russian President Vladimir Putin, at the Hyderabad House in the national capital. During Mr Putin's visit, India and Russia inked 16 pacts, including one on a mobility agreement that is expected to help meet Russia’s labour needs and another on combating irregular migration.

After the summit talks, India and Russia “agreed on an economic cooperation programme until 2030” that Mr Modi said will make bilateral trade and investment “diversified, balanced, and sustainable”.

A joint statement issued mentioned the intention to “increase India’s exports to Russia” and mentioned “timely achievement of the revised bilateral trade target of $100 billion by 2030”. Later in the evening, Mr Modi expressed confidence that this target will be achieved even before 2030.

During the summit talks, Mr Modi and Mr Putin discussed strengthening ties in a wide range of sectors such as trade, defence, agriculture and food security, including the manufacture of urea and long-term supply of fertilisers, energy security, connectivity, culture, people-to-people exchanges and tourism.

The Prime Minister also hailed the Russian leader’s contribution in the past two-and-a-half decades to bilateral ties. In a strong message to the West amid steep American tariffs on India for importing Russian oil, Mr Modi termed “energy security” as a strong and important pillar of the India-Russia partnership.

Thanking the Prime Minister for the hospitality during the visit, Mr Putin promised all Russian support to modernise and strengthen the Indian armed forces, including air defence, aviation and naval capabilities. India is reportedly eyeing more Russian S-400 air defence missile systems and even perhaps the next-generation S-500.

Mentioning the “biggest” Kudankulam civil nuclear energy power plant project between the two nations, Mr Putin, despite Western sanctions on Russian oil, pledged to continue “uninterrupted shipments of fuel for the fast-growing Indian economy”. He also said Mr Modi had submitted a "whole list" of challenges to him on the trade and market accessibility front and that Moscow will work to resolve it to boost Indian exports to his country.

The Russian President further added that the “impressive package” of pacts signed “signal that our countries are important partners”. He said his country is working to build a logistics route linking the two nations from Russia and Belarus to the Indian Ocean coast. He further declared that a large pharma factory will be built in Russia to produce high-quality medicines using Indian technology.

Pushing for the use of national currencies in bilateral trade for “uninterrupted financial transactions”, Mr Putin pointed out that the share of our national currencies has reached 96 per cent in commercial deals.

The 16 pacts inked on Friday included an agreement on “temporary labour activity of citizens of one state in the territory of the other state”, one on cooperation in combating irregular migration, and others in the fields of health and food safety, consumer rights, maritime cooperation, and a significant five pacts on media cooperation that will see a boost in Russian media presence in India.

Mr Putin declared that the Russian news network Russia Today (RT) will be “starting broadcast in India”. It was also announced that Russia has “decided to adopt the framework agreement to join the International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA)”. Later in the evening, he attended a banquet in his honour that was hosted by President Droupadi Murmu.

At the India-Russia Business Forum in the evening, Mr Modi pushed for partnerships between the two nations in sectors such as marine products, electrical vehicle manufacturing, textiles and the pharma sector. He also pressed for a virtual trade corridor connecting both nations for a swifter customs clearance. He further said that the decades-old bilateral cooperation in the field of civil nuclear energy has been crucial in realising our shared priorities of clean energy and that this win-win cooperation would be continued.

The joint statement, meanwhile, added, “Russia and India have agreed to continue jointly developing systems of bilateral settlements through use of the national currencies in order to ensure the uninterrupted maintenance of bilateral trade. Additionally, the two sides agreed to continue their consultations on enabling the interoperability of the national payment systems and financial messaging systems, as well as central bank digital currency platforms.” The two countries also agreed to expedite talks for a bilateral investment treaty.

On defence cooperation, the joint statement mentioned that “both sides agreed to encourage joint manufacturing in India of spare parts, components, aggregates and other products for maintenance of Russian-origin arms and defence equipment under the Make-in-India programme through transfer of technology and setting up of joint ventures for meeting the needs of the Indian Armed Forces as well as subsequent export to mutually friendly third countries.”

On the issue of terrorism, the Prime Minister said, “India and Russia have long cooperated shoulder to shoulder in the fight against terrorism. Be it the terrorist attack in Pahalgam or the cowardly attack on Crocus City Hall—the root of all these incidents is the same. India firmly believes that terrorism is a direct attack on the values of humanity and that global unity against it is our greatest strength.”

The joint statement mentioned a condemnation of cross-border terrorism as well and called for “concerted actions against all UN-listed terrorist groups and entities, including Al Qaeda, ISIS/Daesh and their affiliates”, but there was no specific reference to the names of Pakistan-based terror groups such as the LeT, JeM or TRF in the document.

In his media remarks after the talks, Mr Modi said, Mr Putin's visit comes at a time when our bilateral relations are experiencing several historic milestones. He added: “The India-Russia friendship has remained like a pole star. This relationship, built on mutual respect and deep trust, has always stood the test of time. Today, we discussed all aspects of cooperation to further strengthen this foundation. Taking economic cooperation to new heights is our shared priority. To achieve this, today we have agreed on an Economic Cooperation Program until 2030.”

In what is being seen as a veiled barb at the Trump administration, Mr Modi said that “mutual trust is the foundation of any partnership”.

Terming enhancement of connectivity between India and Russia as a key priority, Mr Modi said, “We will move forward with renewed energy on the INSTC, Northern Sea Route, and Chennai-Vladivostok Corridors.”

“Our cooperation in critical minerals is crucial to ensuring secure and diversified supply chains around the world. This will provide solid support to our partnerships in clean energy, high-tech manufacturing, and new-age industries.” Mr Modi said.

“Manpower mobility will connect our peoples and create new strengths and opportunities for both countries. I am pleased that two agreements have been signed today to promote this. We will also work together on vocational education, skilling, and training. We will also increase the exchange of students, scholars, and athletes from both countries,” the PM declared.

On the Ukraine conflict, Mr Modi said, “Today we also discussed regional and global issues. India has always advocated for peace regarding Ukraine. We welcome all efforts for a peaceful and lasting solution to this issue. India has always been ready to contribute and will continue to do so.”

At his briefing, the foreign secretary Vikram Misri said, “Mr Putin had briefed Mr Modi on the Ukraine conflict and the talks underway” to resolve the conflict.