Russia and India cement ties with energy and defence deals

Russia and India continue actively promoting strategic partnership and coordinating political and economic activities, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday during talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India has succeeded in convincing the world that there was a need to unite against terrorism and the menace can be easily fought if all powers having faith in humanity come together.

Speaking at the start of their meeting in the Kremlin, Modi lauded Russian Federation for being “a reliable friend” who has “always stood by us”. The bloc ratified a resolution on starting its expansion procedures of granting India and Pakistan full membership of the organization at its summer summit in Ufa, capital of Russia’s Bashkortostan Republic.

“India and Russian Federation have a long history of cultural relations”.

“Energy is a sphere where we can do much more”, the Indian premier said in an interview to TASS agency this week.

Standing next to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin in New Delhi last December, industrialist Shashi Ruia signed a pact with Russian oil firm Rosneft that was meant to symbolise a new era in bilateral economic relations.

On Wednesday, Modi announced a large-scale development program for the country’s armed forces, which could be worth $150 billion.

Russian Federation was unhappy with India for choosing French Rafale fighters and American Apache attack helicopters over Moscow’s defence products.

Russian business daily Kommersant said this week that Putin’s one-on-one talks with Modi would decide the fate of the deal as the two still needed to sort out pricing disagreements.

But it was not immediately clear whether the two companies were close to a final deal on the missiles and the two leaders did not take any questions from reporters in Moscow.

“Following our last summit, India has created a special notified zone to facilitate direct trade between the world’s largest uncut diamond exporter, Russia, and India, which processes 90 percent of the world’s uncut diamonds”, he said.

Modi said cooperation between the two countries in nuclear energy was increasing.

The most important defense deal reached with Russian Federation on Thursday was the approval of the joint manufacture of Kamov 226 helicopters, the first project for a major defense platform under Modi’s “Make in India” program. An MoU on construction of solar plants was also signed. Modi also expressed condolence over the death of Russian citizens in a plane crash in Egypt in October.

Separately, Indian Oil Corporation Limited and Oil India Limited said they had signed a memorandum with Rosneft, which paves the way for acquisition of a stake in Taas-Yuriakh oil assets in East Siberia.