Russian President Putin Hails India As ‘Economic Giant’; Stresses Equal Rights In Multipolar World

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday described India as an ‘economic giant’ and emphasised that a truly multipolar world does not allow any single country to dominate. He said all nations must enjoy equal rights in global forums.

Speaking to reporters after concluding his trip to Beijing for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, Putin underlined that even powerful members like India and China do not use platforms such as BRICS to assert control.

“The multipolar world has no hegemon; everyone has equal rights. Despite having economic giants like India and China as members, groupings like BRICS do not talk about domination of politics or global security,” he said.

Putin described both his formal and informal meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi as productive.

“While leading EU economies fall into recession, global ones are moving ahead, especially in the Asia-Pacific,” he observed.

He added that his talks with Chinese leaders were ‘useful’ and produced positive outcomes.

Tariff Dispute Shadows US-India Relations

Putin’s comments come at a time when Washington and New Delhi are embroiled in a tariff dispute. The United States has imposed a 50 per cent duty on Indian exports, calling it ‘punishment’ for India’s continued imports of Russian crude oil.

The Russian leader’s words stand in sharp contrast to US President Donald Trump’s recent remarks. Trump has repeatedly dismissed India’s economy as ‘dead’ and claimed that during stalled trade negotiations, New Delhi ‘offered’ to cut tariffs on US goods to ‘nothing’.

He further argued that the United States does ‘very little business’ with India despite being its ‘biggest client’.

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