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Day ahead of PM Modi's birthday, Putin tells ‘My dear friend, you’re…’
During his conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin praised the good relations that his country shares with India, saying it is “developing” and has the nature of a “strategic, privileged partnership”.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin met on Friday on the sidelines of SCO Summit 2022. This was the first meeting between the two leaders since Russia invaded Ukraine in February this year.
While a lot of talks were held on the ongoing war with both leaders expressing their views and concerns over it, Putin also extended his greetings to Modi for his birthday. Modi will turn 72 on Saturday (September 17). The duo held the bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) being held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
Live updates of SCO Summit 2022
Calling Modi his “dear friend”, Putin said he is aware that the Indian PM is “about to celebrate” his birthday tomorrow.
“As per Russian tradition, we never offer congratulations in advance, so I cannot do that right now. But I would like you to know that we know about, and we wish you all the best, we wish all the best to friendly Indian nation, and we wish prosperity to India,” Putin told Modi.
The Russian President then praised the good relations that his country shares with India, saying it is “developing” and has the nature of a “strategic, privileged partnership”.
“[The relations] continue to develop very rapidly. We're actively engaging at international platforms,” Putin said during the meeting.
Modi and Putin also spoke about the invasion, with the Russian president telling the former that he is aware of India's “position on the conflict in Ukraine”.
“I know about your concerns. We want all of this to end as soon as possible,” the Russian president said.
Modi, meanwhile, told Putin that the current era is not one of war and raised fuel security, food and fertiliser among the major concerns of the world right now. Modi also thanked both Russia and Ukraine for helping India to evacuate stranded Indian students from Ukraine soon after the war broke out.
Before meeting Putin, Modi held bilateral talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Indian PM landed in Uzbekistan on Thursday to attend the SCO Summit, which is happening in-person for the first time in two years. The last two years, the event happened virtually owing to Covid-19 pandemic.
