MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday greeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his 75th birthday, lauding his "enormous personal contribution" to strengthening the partnership between Moscow and New Delhi.
In a message published on the Kremlin website, the Russian leader said, "Dear Mr. Prime Minister, please accept my heartfelt congratulations on the occasion of your 75th birthday".
"You are making a great personal contribution to strengthening the special privileged strategic partnership between our countries, to developing mutually beneficial Russian-Indian cooperation in various areas," he said.
Putin added that Modi has earned the high respect of his "compatriots and enormous authority on the world stage" through his activities as head of government.
He said that India has also made impressive achievements in the social, economic, scientific and technical fields under Modi's leadership.
Modi and Putin met last month at a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in the Chinese city of Tianjin.