Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said Moscow will not interfere in the “delicate” relationship between India and China, expressing confidence that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping are working to resolve pending issues of mutual interest, including the long-running border dispute.Speaking to media in St Petersburg, Putin said Russia maintained strong ties with both New Delhi and Beijing and saw no reason to interfere in their bilateral affairs.Responding to a question from PTI, Putin said, “These are delicate, multidimensional relations between India and China and it is not a good idea to interfere in them.” Of course, we talk to our friends both in India and China.“Both President Xi and PM Modi are trying to resolve all issues of mutual interest, including border relations,” he said.Putin’s comments come as India and China have taken several steps over the past year to rebuild ties after they were severely strained following the Galwan Valley clashes in 2020 and a military standoff that continued for more than four years.Highlighting Russia’s ties with both the countries, Putin said Moscow’s ties with India have not affected its ties with China, just as its growing partnership with Beijing has not weakened ties with New Delhi.He said, “As far as Russia is concerned, we have our own relations with China, with India… Relations between Russia and India do not bother China, our relations with China do not bother India.”The Russian President also referred to the origins of the Russia-India-China framework, saying, “At one time, I suggested that the leaders of India, China meet here, this is how Russia-India-China was established.”On relations with Pakistan, Putin rejected the suggestion that Islamabad is under the control of Beijing.“I don’t think so,” he said. “First and foremost, Pakistan is a big country, it has multi-dimensional relations with different countries.”“Of course, it is very important for Pakistan to take into account cooperation with the Republic of China, but everyone is developing relations with China,” Putin said.On defense cooperation, Putin highlighted the BrahMos missile program and said Russia has proposed cooperation with India on fifth-generation fighter technology.He said, “We proposed to our Indian friends to work together on the fifth generation technology. But Indian friends said do it on your own and we will join. We are ready to work with India in this area for aircraft supply, we have no problem, no limitation.”Putin also said Russia is ready to expand cooperation in air-defense systems and share technical expertise with India. The Russian President said, “Now we are working on updating the system, this is unique expertise, we are ready to share this technology with Chinese, Indian friends, we will continue to work in this regard.”