Ivan Fetisov, Consul General of the Russian Federation in Mumbai, said on Saturday that his country is open to ties with any nation willing to cooperate with Russia, and that Moscow and New Delhi share a good relationship based on trust and mutual respect.
He was speaking to PTI Videos on the sidelines of the International Business Conclave at Advantage Vidarbha 2026 in Nagpur.
Asked about India’s growing ties with the US, the diplomat said, “We are open to cooperating with any country that wants to cooperate with Russia. If India wants to cooperate with the US, Kazakhstan or Brazil, it depends only on India.
“So, I think we have a really good relationship based on trust and mutual respect. That is important nowadays,” he said.
To a question about India-Russia relations in the current scenario, he referred to the “enthusiasm” when Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Russian President Vladimir Putin in September last year.”I repeat that we have a strong relationship with India. We have a lot of spheres of communication, but we need to do more and more every day. So we have great opportunities to become stronger,” he said.
When asked whether India’s opening up of the nuclear energy sector could lead to tie-ups between private companies from India and Russia, given past statements by Russian firms about their capabilities in Small Modular Reactor (SMR) technology, the Consul General said nuclear energy was a key area of cooperation.
“Yes, nuclear energy is a very important sphere of communication and cooperation Our state corporation Rosatom is famous all over the world. We have excellent projects in SMRs, as you mentioned. What is more important is that we can share our technologies, not just sell or buy them. We can work together in this sphere and gain good results,” he said.
To a question about US President Donald Trump claiming that India has decided not to buy oil from Russia, which is currently engaged in a war with Ukraine, the Consul General said, “You need to read the statements of our Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Russian President.” Thanking the organisers of the Advantage Vidarbha event, he said it is a great opportunity to share their views. “We had a good conversation with the chief minister (Devendra Fadnavis) today. We discussed some infrastructure projects. That is why such events are really important,” he added.
