Russian Charge d’Affaires Roman Babushkin on Wednesday said the outcome of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to Moscow and his summit talks with President Vladimir Putin were “historic and game-changing” given the current turbulent geopolitical environment.
The Russian diplomat said the focus of the talks between the two leaders was on enhancing India-Russia trade and economic relations.
In his first visit since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Prime Minister Modi made a two-day visit to Moscow on 8 and 9 July, during which he held summit talks with Putin.
“The leaders have decided to strengthen cooperation in all areas. This is a historic and game-changing step, especially given the turbulent environment around us,” Mr Babuskin said at a media briefing.
“It got unprecedented coverage and probably outdid all other events. It seemed like the whole world was watching it,” he said.
Mr Babuskin criticised the US for some of its comments ahead of Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Moscow and termed these comments as interference in the relations between the two countries.
“It was a conduct of two independent global powers based on mutual trust and respect. External factors do not play much of a role when it comes to Russia-India relations,” he said.
He said India and Russia have established fundamental commonalities in key areas of cooperation.
The senior diplomat said both sides committed to enhance cooperation in several key areas, including fossil fuels, nuclear energy and trade.
Highlighting the key outcomes of the summit, Babuskin said India and Russia have decided to move forward with the bilateral payment system using national currencies.
“If you noticed, the most important point of the joint statement was that we decided to go ahead with the establishment of a payment system within the framework of national currency settlement,” he said.
In the Prime Minister Modi-Putin talks, both sides targeted annual trade volume of US$ 100 billion by 2030 and committed to develop a strong bilateral payment settlement mechanism using national currencies.
On India’s demand to Russia to ensure the return of Indians serving in the Russian military, he said, “We are in agreement with India on this issue.” He said that we hope that this issue will be resolved soon when Indians return home.
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