“We agreed to work together to further deepen…”: PM Modi dials Russian President Putin, reaffirms bilateral ties

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday rang up Russian President Vladimir Putin, congratulating him again on his re-election to the top office.

During their telephonic conversation, both leaders agreed to intensify efforts towards expanding the India-Russia ‘Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership’.

Sharing details of his conversation with the Russian President on X, PM Modi posted, “Spoke with President Putin and congratulated him on his re-election as the President of the Russian Federation. We agreed to work together to further deepen and expand the India-Russia Special & Privileged Strategic Partnership in the years ahead.”

Earlier, on Monday, PM Modi congratulated President Putin on his re-election via a post on X, saying he was looking forward to further strengthening the strategic partnership and people-to-people ties between India and Russia.

“Warm congratulations to H.E. Mr. Vladimir Putin on his re-election as the President of the Russian Federation,” PM Modi posted from his X handle earlier.

“Look forward to working together to further strengthen the time-tested Special & Privileged Strategic Partnership between India and Russia in the years to come. @KremlinRussia,” he added.

Putin won the presidential elections on Sunday, receiving 87.17 per cent of the votes based on the result of processing 70 per cent of the electoral protocols, Russia-based TASS reported, citing data from the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation.

The Communist Party of the Russian Federation candidate Nikolai Kharitonov secured the second spot with 4.1 per cent of the votes while New People Party candidate Vladislav Davankov stood third with 4.8 per cent votes.

The Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) candidate, Leonid Slutsky, received a mere 3.15 per cent of the votes counted.

Putin received more votes in comparison to the 2018 elections where he bagged 76.69 per cent of the total votes counted. The performance of the other candidates was lower than that of the previous competitors of Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2018, according to reports.

This was the first time, remote electronic voting was used for the presidential elections in Russia. Residents used the federal platform in 28 regions while people in Moscow cast votes on their own platform.

The final turnout for online voting on the federal platform stood at 94 per cent, meaning that 4.4 million people cast their votes online. In Moscow, almost 3.7 million electronic ballots were issued, including voters who used special terminals at polling stations..

Putin has served four terms as Russian President. He was first elected President in 2000 and again in 2004, 2012, and 2018.