Russian Ambassador to India, Mr. Nikolay Rishatovich Kudashev called on Shri Kiren Rijiju, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs. While remembering his visit to Sochi in Russia in 2015 during the Immigration Ministers’ meeting, Shri Rijiju emphasized on the time-tested, friendly and strong relations between India and Russia. Shri Rijiju assured to extend all possible cooperation in further strengthening the ties so that the strong bilateral relations can be leveraged to build partnership and collaboration in multifaceted dimensions. While reiterating that the relations reflect the aspirations of two growing economies, the Russian Ambassador impressed upon the need to build on strong people to people contacts. He said that bilateral cooperation is on the rise with enhanced level of cooperation in multi-lateral fora like Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and BRICS. He envisaged more opportunities for cooperation in future between the two countries. Shri Rijiju said that India and Russia are facing the threat of Fundamentalism and Terrorism in various forms and asserted that both the countries stand together in the global fight to address the menace of terrorism. He reiterated that concerted efforts by cooperation of global community are important to eliminating this menace.
On the issue of internal security, Shri Rijiju apprised about the multipronged approach of the Indian Govt. in handling the security situation in the country. The efforts of the Govt. of India in strengthening the internal security and discouraging the centrifugal forces have been given boost by decision of demonetization by Prime Minister by checking fake currency and flow of money among the anti-social elements. He said that NDA Government has demonstrated strong resilience in last 3 years in containing the insurgency. He said despite being home to second largest population of Muslims, the effect of ISIS is minimal in India due to the wisdom of the community leaders and the parents. However, the Govt. is also carrying out de-radicalization and counter-radicalization programme. While Russian Ambassador mentioned about the proposed agreements on cooperation between the two countries, both the sides accepted the necessity of cooperation in the fields of border security, facilitating international trade etc.