Vladimir Putin with PM Modi

New Delhi: Russian President Vladimir Putin He said sanctions threats against India would be “immediately counterproductive”, reaffirming that New Delhi has always been “guided by its national interests”.Putin said India was free to choose the products that “they consider to be the most modern, best suited for them and clearly offer the best price-quality ratio”. “India always acts as a sovereign country and under the leadership of Prime Minister ModiAny potential threat of sanctions would be immediately reversed. We have been in close dialogue with Prime Minister Modi for a long time… All sanctions have been lifted and relations between the United States and India are developing successfully, as I understand… Indians are free to choose the products they consider to be the most modern, best suited to them and obviously offering the best price-quality ratio. Russian President Vladimir Putin said India is always guided by its national interests.The Russian President said the Kremlin’s cooperation with India is “not subject to the political environment” and Moscow will “live up to the commitments it makes to our partners, especially partners like India”.He further said, “Like all our other partners, our cooperation with India is not subject to the political environment. We cannot be directed not to give it to India. No one can direct us and no one will even try to do so… We will always live up to the commitments given to our partners, especially partners like India.”Putin on Friday said “BRICS has overtaken the G7” in terms of economic size, while also praising India as a “key partner” for its leading role in the IT and software industry.Speaking at the annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Putin said developing countries are playing an increasingly important role in the global economy, while the share of Western economies is declining.“If you look at the global GDP dynamics of the last five years, you will see that almost half of its annual growth, 49%, is contributed by the BRICS countries, while the contribution of the so-called Group of Seven is estimated at 18%…,” Putin Said.“The share of BRICS and world GDP based on purchasing power parity is 40%, while the share of G7 is less than 29%,” he said.He said, “So BRICS has already overtaken G7 and it happened in 2020 also, but this gap is increasing. This gap is expected to increase in favor of BRICS…”He also projected stronger growth for the BRICS economies compared to advanced countries. “The G7 is going to grow at a maximum of 1.1% per year, while the BRICS countries are going to grow at more than 4%,” he said. He said this trend is expected to continue.Putin praised India’s role in the digital economy, saying, “India, one of our key partners, is one of the leading players in the IT industry.”“It has a significant share of the global software market,” he said.