NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent official visit to Moscow continues to disturb various nations, including the US. The US recently expressed its disappointment over the same. However, India has responded to this saying that it has the freedom to decide who it wants to connect with.
"India has a long-standing relationship with Russia that is based on mutuality of interests. In a multipolar world, all countries have the freedom of choice. It is essential for everybody to be mindful of such realities,’’ said Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal on Thursday.
This response came after a US official recently said that they were disappointed with the Indian PM’s visit to Moscow.
"PM Modi, two weeks before he went to Moscow also saw Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of G7 in Italy. Then we were looking very carefully at what Modi did when he was in Moscow. We did not see any new major defense deals. We saw no major discussion of technology cooperation," the official had said.
Meanwhile, responding to the growing criticism against Modi's Russia visit, Russia’s Charge d Affaires, Roman Babushkin in an interview with a State agency said that there was an old saying in Russia that if the Western nations criticise you, then you should be sure that you are on the right track.