Firstpost ·
Politics
‘Stay together in turbulent times’: Russian official on Modi-Putin chemistry, India-Russia ties
As Russia and India complete 80 years of diplomatic ties next year, Dr Remizova praised the long-standing relationship and shared insights into how the two nations are expanding people-to-people connections.
One of the prominent bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the 18th Brics Summit in New Delhi was that of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. During the talks on Friday, the two leaders agreed to deepen their countries' longstanding ties, with Putin saying the Brics grouping should build a new platform for global growth free from Western rules.
Recently, the Brics bloc has been seeking to raise its profile by influencing international rules and institutions, even as its members are split over the Gulf conflict with Iran and the UAE on opposite sides. While the member nations have been looking to bolster economic ties, Dr Elena Remizova, Director of the Russian House, told Firstpost that people-to-people connections are equally instrumental.
'Staying together in turbulent times'
While speaking to Firstpost, Dr Remizova emphasised that the Brics nations have understood that "they must stay together in very turbulent times".
"To my mind, except for the economic relations, which are, of course, very important, we also must strengthen our people-to-people connections, cultural connections, education, science and exchange experience, exchange minds, ideas and people," she said.
She emphasised that the bloc should also focus on cooperation among "civil forums". "Inside the Brics, there is a lot of direction of cooperation, and one of these is the civil forum. The civil forum brings together NGOs and public organisations with a view to people-to-people ties. But I also see it in youth cooperation as well because we see a lot of enthusiasm in Indian youth to get to know about Russia, to visit Russia," she explained.
"We have special programmes in the Russian House for Indian youth who would like to visit Russia. It's absolutely free. Of course, you have to come through some shortcuts, but anyway, it's a good chance to see what current Russia is, and I know that a lot of Russian youth dream of coming to India to see how it's developed because we have in Russia the understanding of India as a fairytale country," she added.
When asked about her takeaways from the INNOPROM exhibition, which was organised at Bharat Mandapam on the sidelines of Brics, Dr Remizova said that she was delighted by its reception.
"I'm really happy to see that it gets huge interest from Russian companies to be here in India, to exhibit here and to find direct contact with Indian businesses. Along with this, today at the business forum, I saw many Indian companies interested and really keen to work with Russia now, despite any sanctions and any pressure we have now. So I think that the businesses will work with each other, especially now that we have more favourable conditions, for example, in the rupee-ruble payment process," she told Firstpost.
"It's very good that now we can make our payments in national currencies to avoid any other influences. Also, Russian business is very interested in investing in India, and of course we welcome Indian businessmen to invest in Russia. We already have a lot of success stories, a lot of good setups, but of course a lot to be done."
80 years of diplomatic ties between India and Russia
Next year, India and Russia will be celebrating 80 years of diplomatic ties. Dr Remizova reflected on how the two nations have celebrated diplomatic ties over the years. "Well, it can't be overestimated: the cultural relations, especially between India and Russia. You know, it was a very good tradition of festivals. Exactly in 1986 and 1987, we had the greatest festivals of the USSR in India and India in the USSR. It was an absolutely amazing event, and we can hardly repeat this because the time was different and the goals were different," she said.
"We see that the continuation of this cultural exchange is very important. That's why we have the intergovernmental agreement on the exchange of cultural groups, music groups. We try to bring more Russian collectives to India- dance and music, different songs, different traditions of different Russian regions because Russia, like India, is about unity and diversity. We have a lot of different languages, cultures, etc. I think it's quite important, yes, exactly on the 18th anniversary of our diplomatic relations," she said.
When asked about the importance of Russia and India in the multipolar world, Dr Remizova called India a "civilisational state", emphasising its importance in the world order. "Well, internationally it means, you know, the concept of the civilisational state. I think now it's quite a popular narrative, and I think it's the main understanding of the different powers in the world, global powers. And of course, India is one of these powers," she told Firstpost.
"It's the long history, 5,000 years of history of the Indian civilisation. It gives a really good example to all other nations, to all other countries, of how to keep this for a long time. And really, I'm really amazed at how contemporary Indians preserve this historical heritage."
"And I have seen this, for example, in art. Indian artists are very open to a lot of experiments. But it's always based on the Indian heritage. It's really amazing. So I think in this case, India is one of the world's great powers and a country with a very, very long historical tradition," she concluded.