India, June 5 -- Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday hailed Moscow's strategic partnership with New Delhi and asserted that Western attempts to force India into scaling back its cooperation with Russia are futile and damaging to global stability.

In an interaction with heads of leading global news agencies, including PTI, Putin lauded India's economic growth and its independent foreign policy and said Russia is determined to expand its economic engagement with the country.

"India is among the world's major economies and is currently demonstrating an impressive rate of economic growth," Putin remarked, expressing confidence that bilateral trade between the two nations is on track to hit a USD 100 billion milestone in the coming ...