Russian President Putin terms ties with India special
Praises PM Modi for pursuing 'independent foreign policy'
Moscow (PTI): Russia has special ties with India and they have always supported each other and will remain so in the future, President Vladimir Putin has said, as he praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for pursuing an "independent foreign policy" in the interest of his country.
Putin's remarks came at a plenary session of the Valdai International Discussion Club, a Moscow-based think-tank on Thursday.
He said Russia and India continue to cooperate in the military and technical areas.
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, Russian state media RT quoted Putin as saying.
Putin's comments came more than a month after Prime Minister Modi told him that today's era is not of war as they met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan in September.
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.
"PM Modi is one of those individuals in the world who is able to pursue an independent foreign policy in the interest of his country, and his people without any attempts to stop him, said Putin.
Russia has been a major supplier of military hardware to India. In October 2018, India signed a USD 5 billion deal with Russia to buy five units of the S-400 air defence missile systems, notwithstanding a warning by the US that going ahead with the contract may invite sanctions under the provisions of Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
Putin said India has walked a great development path from being a British colony to its modern state and this has yielded significant results for the country's almost 1.5 billion people.
"It (India) attracts general respect from everyone in the world. A lot has been done in recent years under PM Modi's leadership. He is a true patriot of his country. And this concept of his, Make in India', is a significant effort. (India) really has progressed in its development. A great future lies ahead of it, Putin said, according to a translation of his remarks by the Russian Embassy in India.
(India) is not only the largest democracy, in a good sense of this word, but it should be proud of its growth rate, that's the basis of its progress and development, Putin added.
The Russian leader said that the economic cooperation between Delhi and Moscow is growing as well.
Prime Minister Modi asked me to increase fertiliser supplies which is crucial for Indian agriculture and we have done that, he said, adding that the supplies have been increased 7.6 times without giving details.
Putin said he believes that countries such as India not only have a great future ahead of them, but are going to have a growing role in forming global policies.
His comments came ahead of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's visit to Moscow on November 8.
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Israel launches first airstrike on Lebanon since ceasefire, accusing Hezbollah of breaching truce
Beirut, Nov 28: The Israeli military on Thursday said its warplanes fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility, the first Israeli airstrike a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.
There was no immediate word on casualties from Israel's aerial attack, which came hours after the Israeli military said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon. Israel said they were violating the ceasefire agreement, without providing details. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded.
The back-to-back incidents stirred unease about the agreement, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah members are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
On Thursday, the second day of a ceasefire after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. Israel said it fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese Hezbollah group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.
