Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Droupadi Murmu on Friday as India marked 79 years of independence.
"India has achieved widely recognised success in socio-economic, scientific, technical and other fields. Your country enjoys well-deserved respect on the global stage and actively contributes to addressing key issues on the international agenda," Putin said.
The Russian leader added: "We highly value our special, privileged strategic partnership with India. I am confident that, through our joint efforts, we will continue to expand constructive bilateral cooperation across multiple areas. This aligns fully with the interests of our friendly peoples and supports the strengthening of security and stability both regionally and globally."
The greetings from the Russian President come hours before his scheduled meeting with US President Donald Trump on Friday in Alaska.
Meanwhile, India's Ministry of External Affairs has "endorsed" the summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska, which could influence the course of tariffs the US has imposed on India. Randhir Jaiswal, official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, said India stood ready to support peace efforts to end the conflict in Ukraine, and stated that India-US relations would move ahead based on "mutual respect and shared interests".
