Russian President Vladimir Putin praises India's foreign policy, calls PM Modi a 'true patriot'

Russian President Vladimir Putin heaped praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, calling him a 'true patriot'. Putin also lauded India's foreign policy and the Prime Minister's vision of 'Make in India'.

“A lot has been done under the leadership of PM Modi. He is a patriot of his country. His idea of 'Make in India' matters both economic wise and ethics. Future belongs to India, it can be proud of the fact that it's the largest democracy in the world," said Putin, reported ANI.

“Prime Minister Modi is one of those people in the world who is capable of conducting independent foreign policy in the interest of his nation despite any attempts to do some detente or limit something,” he added.

He further said that India made tremendous progress in its development from being a British colony to a modern state. “India has made tremendous progress in its development from being a British colony to a modern state. Almost 1.5 billion people & tangible development results give reasons for everyone's respect & admiration for India,” the Russian President said. 

He emphasised the ties between India and Russia, calling it a special relationship. “We have a special relationship with India. It has been underpinned by a close ally relationship of many decades. We've never had any difficult issues and supported each other & that's happening right now. I'm sure it'll happen in the future,” he added.

Putin also mentioned that economic cooperation is increasing between the two countries, adding that "we have increased trade volume by 7.6 times. Trade in agriculture has almost doubled.”

Not just Putin, former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan had earlier praised India for pursuing an independent foreign policy and lauded Foreign Minister S Jaishankar for standing firm to the sustained the United States pressure over buying cheap oil from Russia.