The two leaders reiterated their commitment to further deepen strategic ties. “PM conveyed greetings to President Putin on the celebration of the 80th anniversary of Victory Day and invited him for the Annual Summit to be held in India later in the year,” the MEA spokesperson added.
The Russian President’s call to Prime Minister Modi comes days after Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said in an interview that Russia, China or Western countries can play a very positive role in the crisis. In the interview to Russian government-run RIA Novosti news agency, the Pakistani Minister said, “I think Russia or China or even Western countries can play a very, very positive role in this crisis and they can even set up an investigation team that should be assigned this job to investigate whether India or Modi is lying or he is telling the truth. Let an international team find out.”
The minister said Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was also in favour of an international investigation. “Let’s find out who is the culprit and the perpetrator of this incident in India, in Kashmir, talk or empty statements have no effect. There must be some evidence that Pakistan is involved or that these people were supported by Pakistan. These are just statements, empty statements and nothing more,” he was quoted as saying.
The Resistance Front, a proxy of banned terror organisation, Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), has claimed responsibility for the April 22 attack.
Moscow has been a longstanding ally of New Delhi and this partnership has only deepened during the Ukraine war when India continued to buy Russian oil despite Western sanctions against Russia. Besides the bilateral relations, President Putin shares great rapport with Prime Minister Modi. “Our relationship is so strong that you will understand me without any translation,” President Putin had said when the Prime Minister visited Russia in October last year.
