Dedollarisation: Modi, Putin give fresh push to rupee-ruble trade settlement

During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day Moscow visit, India and Russia have agreed to continue together to promote bilateral trade settlement using national currency.

Russia’s Charge d’affaires Roman Babushkin on Wednesday said one of the important points in India-Russia joint statement was that both the counties have decided to go ahead with the national currency settlement system.    

As per a release by the PM office (PMO), both the sides will also consult on the interoperability of their financial messaging systems.

“The Sides agreed to continue working together to promote bilateral settlement system using national currencies. The Sides agreed to continue consultations for interoperability of their financial messaging systems,” the release said.  

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Modi-Putin meet ‘historic and game-changing’ 

Babushkin termed the meeting between PM Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin “historic” and “game-changing”.  

“It (the Modi-Putin meeting) is a historic and game changing move, especially given the turbulent and violent environment around us,” Babushkin said.  

Modi-Putin meet ‘overshadowed’ all other events

The Russian diplomat further said that PM Modi’s visit to Russia on July 8 and 9 and his meetings with President Putin got a “good and unprecedented coverage and presumably overshadowed all the other events."

“It seems that the whole world was watching. It was a contact of two independent global powers,” he said, adding that “external factors don’t play much role when it comes to Russia-India relations."

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Babushkin said that the focus of talks between Modi and Putin were expanding India-Russia trade and economic ties.

VIDEO | Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of the Russian Federation in India, Roman Babushkin addresses press conference on the outcomes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Moscow. pic.twitter.com/Plf5NmpFIn

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) July 10, 2024

Programme 2030

To strengthen trade and economic cooperation between the two nations, the leaders have instructed the concerned agencies to prepare a programme for development of promising areas of Russian-Indian economic cooperation till 2030 (Programme-2030).

The programme aims to ensure the dynamic growth of trade in goods and services between the two countries.  

To further boost as well as sustain the growth in bilateral trade, both the leaders set a new trade target of USD 100 billion by 2030.

Indians in Russian Army would be discharged

Babushkin also said that Russia was on the same page as India on the issue of Indian nationals working as support staff in the Russian army, and hopes to resolve it soon.

“We are on the same page with India on this problem. The Russian Army does not need them… there may be 50, 60 or 100 Indians and they don’t really change the situation in the battleground in any way. It’s our common problem,” he said.

The Russian diplomat clarified that over 100 Indian recruits in the Russian army were not a part of any activities within conflict zones.

Indians were sent to Russia illegally

Babushkin went on to say that these Indians were cheated by agents who are into criminal activities and sent to Russia illegally.  

“We are committed to finding a solution to this problem as early as possible,” he said.

“We do not want them, and we are investigating the agents who recruited and deceived them. Agents from Russia are also under investigation. All Indian nationals in Russia are there on visitor or business visas, and we have no mechanism for recruiting Indian or other foreign nationals into our army,” Babushkin further said.

The issue was also raised by Modi during his one-on-one meeting with Putin after which the latter assured the PM that the Indian nationals in the Russian Army would be discharged.

With input from agencies