Sometimes pride creeps in India-US ties but never with Russia: Cong leader

Highlighting the longstanding India-Russia ties, Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar on Monday said that sometimes pride comes in between India-US relations, however, in diplomatic relations with Moscow that does not happen.

"In our relations with the Americans, sometimes pride creeps in. However, this never happens with Russia. Be it the Soviet Union of those times or today's Russian federation. We look at each other equally," said the Congress leader while addressing India-Russian Society Programme here today.

Aiyar further remarked that there is "no doubt" that during the tenure of former Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, closest friend to India was the Soviet Union.

"Indira has become a Russian name. A lot of girls are named Indira, especially in Uzbekistan," said the Congress leader.

"India's relations with Russia kept on increasing after 1955, eight years after independence. The relations became diverse in the field of science, technology, culture, literature and other fields and they kept on increasing. One field was left out, which is defence. We kept defence corporation limited but expanded our relations in other fields," he added.

( With inputs from ANI )