Pressure on Modi to limit India-Russia ties will hurt global stability: Putin

Key points

• Western pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to scale back India’s engagement with Russia will harm global stability, said Russian President Vladimir Putin late on Thursday at a press conference.
• “Everyone has understood that putting pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi (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,” he said.
• Calling India a “reliable” strategic partner, Mr. Putin said India’s growth has not “come out of the blue” but was an outcome of the hard work done under Mr. Modi’s leadership.
• The remarks came against the backdrop of Western capitals expressing unease over India-Russia relations and the oil trade amid the Ukraine war.