Western pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to scale back India’s engagement with Russia will harm global stability, said Russian President Vladimir Putin late on Thursday at a press conference.

“Everyone has understood that putting pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi (and India) that has the largest population in the world, is detrimental for international relations and for bilateral relations. It doesn’t matter where this pressure comes from,” he said.

Calling India a “reliable” strategic partner, Mr. Putin said India’s growth has not “come out of the blue” but was an outcome of the hard work done under Mr. Modi’s leadership.

The remarks came against the backdrop of Western capitals expressing unease over India-Russia relations and the oil trade amid the Ukraine war. The U.S., for instance, has been asking India to stop importing Russian crude oil and had slapped punitive tariffs.

But Mr. Putin said New Delhi will prioritise its national interests and added that India’s engagement with the U.S. does not affect its strategic ties with Russia.

“I don’t think this is a case. We are glad that India is developing its relations with all the countries, it’s a great country, a large economy, the largest democracy, it is only natural that it develops its economy in accordance with its interest with those countries that it deems necessary,” Mr. Putin said when asked whether India’s alignment with Washington creates structural friction for Russia.

‘Delicate’ India-China ties

Last September, in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff war, a photo of Mr. Modi, Mr. Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping from the SCO Summit in Tianjin grabbed the global spotlight. Mr. Putin, who is set to visit India in September for the BRICS summit, said Moscow will not interfere in the “delicate” bilateral relations between India and China.

The Russian President, who called Mr. Xi his “old friend”, said, “This is a delicate, multi-faceted relationship between India and China, and interfering into them is not a good idea. Of course, we interact with both our friends... President Xi and Prime Minister Modi are both trying to resolve all the issues of mutual interest, including the border issue.”

Highlighting Moscow’s strategic equilibrium in Asia, President Putin characterised Russia’s ties with India and China as having evolved organically. He stressed that Moscow’s growing synergy with New Delhi does not come at Beijing’s expense, just as Russia’s deep alliance with China does not compromise its bond with India.

“Russia has established these relations (with India and China). It was happening naturally. Relations between Russia and India do not disturb China, our relations with China do not disturb India,” he said.

Mr. Putin also touched upon the ties between India and Pakistan. “We are well aware of the intricacies of the issues concerning the border between India and Pakistan,” he said, addding that he does not believe Pakistan was under the control of China.

Su-57 on offer

The President also offered Russia’s fifth-generation stealth aircraft Su-57 to India and suggested that the combat jet could be jointly built in India. “As for the Su-57, we offered our friends from India to jointly develop this machine, a fifth-generation aircraft. I think it’s the best to date. But our Indian friends said, ‘well, let’s see’,” he said.

“In principle, this could have been our (Russia-India) product. We made it independently. And we are ready to work with India. To work and develop. There will be no restrictions whatsoever,” he said.