Putin: Western attempts to limit India-Russia ties will harm global stability; Modi does not buckle under pressure

06/06/2026

St Petersburg, Jun 5: Hailing Moscow's time-tested ties with New Delhi, Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that Western pressure on Prime Minister NarendraModi to scale back ties with Russia will harm global stability, adding that India's growth has not "come out of the blue" but is a result of hard work under Modi's leadership.
In an interaction with heads of leading global news agencies, including PTI on Thursday night, Putin also complimented India's independent foreign policy. He said Russia is determined to expand its overall engagement with India, and envisages bilateral trade going up to USD 100 billion annually from USD 60 billion now.
He identified clean energy, pharmaceuticals and hydrocarbons as key sectors for taking forward the upward trajectory in trade and investment ties.
In response to a question from PTI's CEO and Editor-in-Chief Vijay Joshi, the only Indian journalist at the interaction, Putin said: "India is one of the leading economies of the world that has showed the highest rate of economic growth. This is not something that comes out of the blue. This is result of the hard work that the government of India has been doing under the leadership of Prime Minister NarendraModi," Putin said.
"We hope that in upcoming years, we will reach USD 100 billion in mutual trade. We have all the foundations to work more actively and to reach more ambitious goals. And we are not only talking about our plans in energy sector as new platforms will emerge in terms of hydrocarbons," he said.
Sounding severely critical of the Western powers for putting pressure on India to cut back on its ties with Russia, Putin said Moscow has not seen any negative consequences of it and said such tactics are bound to backfire.
"Everyone has understood that putting pressure on Prime Minister NarendraModi (and India) that has the largest population in the world, is detrimental for international relations and for bilateral relations. It doesn't matter where this pressure comes from," Putin said.
"We don't see any negative consequences," he added describing India as Russia's "reliable" strategic partner.
The Russian president's remarks came against the backdrop of increasing disquiet in some of the Western capitals over India-Russia relations. The US has constantly been urging India to cut back its procurement of Russian crude oil.
The Russian President emphasised that New Delhi will continue to prioritise its own national interests, adding that India's diplomatic engagement with the United States does not hinder or undermine its strategic relationship with Russia.
"I don't think this is a case. We are glad that India is developing its relations with all the countries, it's a great country, a large economy, the largest democracy, it is only natural that it develops its economy in accordance with its interest with those countries that it deems necessary," Putin said when asked whether India's deep alignment with Washington creates structural friction for Russia.
Russia considers India as a "reliable partner" and it sees no negative consequences from New Delhi's bilateral relations with any other country.
The Russian President had visited India in December and following his talks with PM Modi, the two sides unveiled a raft of measures including a five-year roadmap to build a robust economic partnership and address New Delhi's concerns over trade deficit.
A strong resolve to widen the economic partnership, in a shift from cooperation in traditional domains of oil and defence, was the centrepiece of the summit talks between Modi and Putin.
Following the summit, the two leaders demonstrated their strong resolve to give a new momentum to the over eight-decades-old India-Russia friendship with the prime minister saying that it remained steadfast like a "guiding star".
Putin is again set to visit India in September to attend the BRICS summit. The Russian president, responding to a question on the conflict in Ukraine, said he was open to resolving it and the task now is to convince Kyiv.
He also dismissed the idea that European Union countries could act as mediators in peace talks with Ukraine.
The Russian president said that the EU could help resolve the conflict by persuading Kyiv to compromise instead of supplying it weapons.
Putin said the Ukraine crisis is "local" issue, while the Iran issue is a global one.
"How can Russia trust people who have been harping about the need to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia for years?" he said
He said Russia is ready to support any decision that could contribute to de-escalation in West Asia.
Putin also questioned VolodymyrZelenskyy's legitimacy as the president, saying the Ukrainian leader's presidential mandate has expired.
"Will they hold elections or not? We should ask these questions," he said in response to a question.

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