We need to be careful of Russian President: Subramanian Swamy

Warning about United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi's alleged affiliations to Russia's former intelligence agency KGB, senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy on Thursday said that India should be careful of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Swamy's statement comes after United States President Donald Trump on Wednesday set a suspense ball rolling over his take on India-Russia recent S-400 Triumph air defence missile deal. He said that India will soon find out whether the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) will be levied on the country for the purchase of high calibre missile systems from Russia.

Talking about the same, Swamy told ANI, "It's not possible in this world to be friends with everybody. We have to choose friends and then stay with them. In my opinion, Israel, China and the United States of America are more important friends for us for our present situation than Russia."

"Russia is a bankrupt country. It just lives on oil revenues. Inside Russia there are lots of other problems. Putin should prove that he wants to be our friend by declassifying files of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Lal Bahadur Shastri. They are not state secrets because that was in the Soviet Union (time). He should tell us why Sonia Gandhi went to Russia twice recently to meet him in the last six months. He must give us record of Sonia and her father's KGB affiliations. But, he is playing both sides. So, we got to be careful," he added.

India and Russia signed the much-awaited agreement for the purchase of five S-400 Triumph air defence missile systems earlier this month.

The deal was signed on the sidelines of the 19th India-Russia Annual Bilateral Summit led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Putin.

-ANI