Russian President praises India by calling its people talented and purposeful

Narendra Modi with Vladmir Putin

For a second time within a week, Russian President Vladimir Putin has praised India's growth story and said its people are "very talented" and "purposeful" and will help the country to achieve outstanding results in its development.

Putin's comments came just ahead of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's visit to Moscow on November 7 and 8.

Speaking at a meeting on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Russian Historical Society on the National Unity Day on Friday, Putin said: "Let's take a look at India. Very talented people, purposeful, with such a drive for internal development, will, of course, achieve outstanding results. India will achieve outstanding results in its development." Putin said there was no doubt that India's population of almost 1.5 billion people will certainly achieve outstanding results in their development, according to a Kremlin press release in Russian.

Putin also spoke about colonialism and Russia's civilisation and culture.

Putin last Thursday too spoke about Russia's special ties with India.

“We have special ties with India that are built on the foundation of really close allied relations for decades. We never had any outstanding issues with India, we have always supported each other and I’m positive that’s how it will remain in the future as well,” Putin had said.

He had also praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for pursuing an "independent foreign policy" in the interest of his country.

Putin said India has walked a great development path from being a British colony to its modern state.

Russia has been a time-tested partner for India and the country has been a key pillar of New Delhi's foreign policy.

In the last few months, India has increased the import of discounted crude oil from Russia notwithstanding increasing disquiet over it by several Western powers.

India has not yet condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and it has been maintaining that the crisis must be resolved through diplomacy and dialogue.

At a bilateral meeting with Putin in the Uzbek city of Samarkand on September 16, Modi told him that "today's era is not of war".