External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on Thursday said the "time-tested" relationship with Russia will remain India's top foreign policy priority as he held wide-ranging parleys on bilateral and international issues, including Afghanistan, with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow.
"We in the government have been insisting that this time-tested relationship has weathered many storms and out of which it has always emerged even stronger," Krishna said, adding that relations with Russia will remain a top foreign policy priority.
Krishna was talking to reporters after a 40-minute meeting with Medvedev during which he discussed a wide range of issues.
"A wide range of bilateral and international issues, including Afghanistan, were discussed in the meeting with Medvedev. On all the issues we have similar views," Krishna said.
During his meeting, Krishna recalled the Russian assistance to India in the initial years of independence.
Medvedev said the two countries had cooperated in "joint work against current threats like terrorism, narco-crime and organised crime" as well in battling the effects of the global economic crisis.
Krishna said the intensive exchange of high-level visits including Prime Minister's visit to Yekaterinburg in June and President Pratibha Patil's visit in September "are an answer to sceptics" who question the value of this importance.
