India-Russia ties are time-tested: Russian Deputy envoy on 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations

Russian Deputy envoy to India, Roman Babushkin, while celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the Moscow-Delhi diplomatic relations said that the ties between countries are honest, multidimensional and time-tested.

Deputy Chief of Mission in the Russian Embassy in New Delhi, Roman Babushkin made these remarks while also celebrating Russia's National Day on Sunday at the Honorary Consulate of Russia in Thiruvananthapuram.

"India-Russia relations are historically deep, honest and without hidden agenda. They are time-tested, multidimensional, and immune from external negative influence. The contact between India and Russia remains uninterrupted. We do not have any double standards. There lie big values in our ties and they are special," Babushkin said during a press briefing.

Earlier, Russian Ambassador to India Denis Alipov also said that the multidimensional cooperation between India-Russia is one of the world's most elaborate ones and the countries succeeded in "building true friendship and mutual trust" exemplified by numerous proud milestones.

Marking the occasion of the 75th Anniversary of the Russian-Indian diplomatic relations, Alipov made these remarks in a foreword in the special edition of the Russia Digest magazine.

The remarks further coincide with the occasion of Russia's National Day, June 12, stated the Embassy of Russia in India on its website.

The year 2022 marks both 75 years of India's Independence and the 75th Anniversary of the Russian-Indian diplomatic relations, which were established in April 1947.

Speaking on the milestones achieved in the relationship between the two countries, Alipov wrote about the industrialization and power plants construction in India with the Soviet assistance in the 1950-1960s, setting up of the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay in 1958, the groundbreaking Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation of 1971, the flight of the first Indian cosmonaut on the "Soyuz T-11" spacecraft in 1984, the Declaration of Strategic Partnership of 2000 and many more.

"Today's Russia-India multidimensional cooperation is one of the world's most elaborate ones with regular meetings of the two intergovernmental commissions, sector-wise ministerial, security advisors' and senior officials dialogue, foreign office consultations and coordination in the global arena, complemented by diverse business, cultural and people-to-people contacts," he wrote.

The Ambassador highlighted that Russia and India were among the first in the world to establish the practice of annual bilateral summits. The XXI Summit in December 2021 in New Delhi was held in person, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, and the introduction of the "2+2" ministerial format became yet another landmark, he added.

( With inputs from ANI )