Old, serious & strong: Shashi Tharoor on India-Russia ties ahead of Putin’s visit

NEW DELHI: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday stressed upon the importance of India's relationship with Russia, ahead of the much-anticipated visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Speaking to media outside the Parliament on the Putin's upcoming visit, Tharoor said, "It is a very important visit. It's an extremely important relationship. We talk for a long time about strategic autonomy; we have to preserve our negotiating space with America, China, Russia."

Stating that India has independent ties with other countries, he added, "We cannot mortgage our autonomy to any other country's interest. We have to have independent relationships with all countries. Russia is an old relationship, it is a serious relationship, strong relationship."

President Putin will be visiting India from December 4-5 for the 23rd India-Russia Annual Summit at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Speaking at an investment forum in Moscow on Tuesday, Putin said that the objective of the numerous joint projects in energy, industry, space, agriculture, and other sectors is to elevate the ties with Beijing and New Delhi.

"We aim to elevate cooperation with the People's Republic of China and the Republic of India to a qualitatively new level by strengthening its technological component. This is the objective of numerous joint projects in energy, industry, space, agriculture, and other sectors," he said. (ANI)

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