Economic ties with India under strain: Russia

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 6

Russia has admitted that its economic ties with India are under strain as Moscow faces “tectonic geopolitical shifts that have been underway for quite some time, but accelerated last year”.

“Sanctions disrupted the transaction and logistics mechanism. We are in very close dialogue on all these issues. There are very precise and concrete suggestions and a very professional exchange of ideas and proposals from both sides,” Russia’s Ambassador to India Denis Alipov said on Monday.

While maintaining that Moscow would not do anything detrimental to India in its ties with Pakistan, he said, “We’ve strangled our defence cooperation with Pakistan precisely because it would impact our relations with India. We have a limited defence relationship with Islamabad precisely directed towards counter-terrorism. We want to expand our economic presence in Pakistan. We don’t feel a weak Pakistan would be a better choice for India, Afghanistan or the region.”

The Russian Ambassador also dwelt on alleged Indian concerns about Russia’s close ties with China and India’s border conflict with China.