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Ahead of the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to India, Herve Delphin, European Union (EU) Envoy to India, highlighted how the relationship between the bloc and India has grown in the past few years despite the Russian question and said India to factor in "Russia an aggressor".
Speaking here in the national capital, Delphin said, "There is a clear aggressor. Russia has been invading a neighbouring country. We have drones flying off, subsea cables cut off. All is documented. So, Russia is an aggressor, not just towards a country which has invaded, but has really declared itself hostile to Europe's interests. So I think India has to factor that in." He added, "I think as much as European countries would do, will never do anything that really harms the core security interest of India, we would expect that India does the same towards Europe, European countries... The EU has grown its relationship with India in the past years, despite the Russian question." Elaborating further, Delphin said that despite this reality, India and the EU have a lot of areas to work together, underscoring that the question of security needs to be at the core of ties. "That is a reality. But that doesn't mean that for EU India, that we cannot work together, and I think there is so much we can do, but the understanding of this security predicament needs to be really at the core of the relationship." Delphin's remarks came shortly after the meeting between Putin and a US delegation, where RT reported, citing the Russian President's aide Yuri Ushakov, that no compromise on the plan for Ukraine was reached during the meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the US delegation. The Russian President meeting with US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner went on for nearly five hours. The EU Envoy's remarks come as Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to visit India from December 4-5 for the 23rd India-Russia Annual Summit at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Speaking at an investment forum in Moscow on Tuesday, Putin said that the objective of the numerous joint projects in energy, industry, space, agriculture, and other sectors is to elevate the ties with Beijing and New Delhi. "We aim to elevate cooperation with the People's Republic of China and the Republic of India to a qualitatively new level by strengthening its technological component. This is the objective of numerous joint projects in energy, industry, space, agriculture, and other sectors," he said. Earlier, Kremlin Spokesperson Dimitry Peskov said that the sale of additional S-400 long-range anti-aircraft missiles could be on the agenda during the visit. "Highly on the agenda, and this could be discussed. Our military industry is working pretty well. Russian arms 36 % in Indian armed forces and hopefully will continue," Peskov said. Russia also hopes to discuss the possibility of India acquiring the Su-57 fifth-generation stealth fighter. "SU-57 is the best plane in the world. SU57 will be on the agenda," said Peskov. "As far as our cooperation in the defence industry goes, let's remember the famous Brahmos missiles. It's not only just production or it's not only acts of buying or selling, it's also the exchange of high technologies, and it really paves the way for a bright future in this field of cooperation. We're developing quite, quite a variety of very complicated systems. And in this sense, of course, we have capabilities. We are ready to share this with our Indian friends, our experience," he added. Kremlin Spokesperson Peskov also said that there was the possibility of an agreement on Nuclear energy between India and Russia during the President's visit. (ANI)
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