Rama Krishna Sangem
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a telephone conversation on March 20, Wednesday. During this talk, PM Modi extended his congratulations to President Putin on his re-election. Modi conveyed his best wishes for the peace, progress, and prosperity of the Russian people, according to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
The two leaders agreed to make concerted efforts towards further strengthening the partnership between the two countries in the years to come. Modi called for early end of war in Ukraine, that has been going on for the last two years.
“We agreed to work together to further deepen and expand India-Russia Special & Privileged Strategic Partnership in the years ahead,” Prime Minister Modi said in a post on X. The two leaders also reviewed progress in various issues of bilateral cooperation and exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual interest, the PMO said.
Modi prefers dialogue, to war
PM Modi reiterated India’s consistent position on the Ukraine-Russia war in favour of dialogue and diplomacy as the way forward, it added.
President Vladimir Putin recorded a landslide victory in Russia’s election, cementing his already tight grip on power. The result showed that the three other candidates who ran — but had not openly challenged Putin — won 4.31, 3.85 and 3.20 per cent of the vote.
Putin made it clear that the result should send a message to the West that its leaders will have to reckon with an emboldened Russia, whether in war or in peace, for many more years to come.
“We have many tasks ahead. But when we are consolidated – no matter who wants to intimidate us, suppress us – nobody has ever succeeded in history, they have not succeeded now, and they will not succeed ever in the future,” Putin told supporters in a victory speech in Moscow.
