Indian Ambassador to Russia Bala Venkatesh Varma on Thursday termed the election victory of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as “good news” for New Delhi-Moscow relations, which are now likely to strengthen under the new government.
“The results are very good news for India-Russia relations. Firstly, both counties are on very good momentum of bilateral relations, based also on the fact that (Russian) President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Modi have had excellent, professional ties, and those are expected to further strengthen in the next five years of the Indian government,” Sputnik quoted Varma telling reporters.
Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi by phone on his party’s victory in the parliamentary elections, during the conversation, the leaders confirmed their readiness to cooperate and continue contacts, the Kremlin said in a statement Thursday.
In April, Russian Federation had conferred the prestigious Russian highest civilian award ‘Order of Saint Andrew The Apostle’ to PM Modi for “distinguished achievement in development of the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between Russian Federation and the Republic of India”. Mr Modi who then joined the illustrious club of noted Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and Chinese President Xi Jinping among other leaders expressed gratitude to Russian President Vladimir Putin for conferring the prestigious Russian highest civilian award to him and had said Mr Putin remains “a source of great strength for the India-Russia friendship”
Russia and India have been boosting their economic, political and military cooperation for years, both in bilateral and multilateral formats.
