PM Modi congratulates Russian President Putin on re-election: 'Looking forward to boost time-tested ties'

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday congratulated Russian President Vladimir Putin on his re-election to the top office and said that he is looking forward to further strengthening the "time-tested" ties between the two countries.

"Warm congratulations to H.E. Mr. Vladimir Putin on his re-election as the President of the Russian Federation," Modi said in a post on 'X'.

"Look forward to working together to further strengthen the time-tested Special & Privileged Strategic Partnership between India and Russia in the years to come," he said.

Reports from Moscow said Putin won a historic fifth term as Russian President in a landslide victory.

There has been criticism of the election process by some Western countries.

"If we talk about the illegitimacy of elections in our country, then we should probably talk about the illegitimacy of those 87 per cent of the votes of the population...that were cast for President Putin. This is absurd," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a media briefing in Moscow.