New Delhi (Sputnik) — Vladimir Putin has been re-elected as Russian president with over 76 percent of votes — the widest margin ever by a candidate for the Russian presidency. He has served as Russian president for 14 years and now he will lead Russia for six more years.
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"Vladimir Putin had said that he will continue to engage with countries of Asia and Europe and if he continues with this policy, then it will benefit India and other countries of Asia. Now it's high time that we should also pro-actively engage with Russia and clear all the impending deals and decisions to strengthen our cooperation," Shashank, former foreign secretary of India, who also served as India's ambassador to Denmark, South Korea and Libya, told Sputnik in an exclusive interview.
Shashank cautioned that India should implement all those impending decisions with Russia.
"Therefore, in view of the changing geopolitical situation of Asia, we have to speed up our engagement with Russia. Putin is looking towards Asia and will increase relations with countries of Asia, therefore, we have to speed up our engagement," Shashank told Sputnik.
The former Indian foreign secretary is optimistic that Putin's re-election will provide a fillip to India-Russia relations.
"India-Russia relation is likely to boost further during the coming six years of his term," he added.
The views and opinions expressed by Shashank are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect Sputnik's position.