Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday said his country would support India if they ever had to take a hard decision against "a friendly neighbouring country". Addressing a packed hall at IIT Bombay, Medvedev, looking comfortable in an open neck blue shirt and black suit, said India and Russia have special relations "and it is not a figure of speech".
"I'm not disclosing a state secret but when I visited India four days after the Mumbai terror attacks I told them (the government)...we are ready to provide weapons, modern technology and know-how," said the dynamic 45-year-old President.
The President had requested to visit IIT Bombay because it was established with the help of the then USSR government. Though he walked in almost an hour late, a loud applause greeted Medvedev. "It was not that I woke up late but the airport was shut for an hour," he said.
He started off by requesting students not to be "strict with their questions".
The request fell flat when a student asked him how Russia would react if they had a terror attack like Mumbai and if their agencies were sure that the attack was rooted in Pakistan.
"You don't ask complicated questions but extremely complicated questions. But complicated questions have simple answers."
He did not rule out the use of armed force to protect the interest of the country: "…If Russia is attacked from a foreign state and we are sure the terrorists are housed by that foreign state, we will defend our national interests and even employ armed force".
Referring to Russia's glorious days, a student asked the President whether Russia would have been a superpower if the USSR had not disintegrated.
"If a state starts to feel and say they are a superpower and not…care about anyone else then it is the first step to failure... an attempt to be a superpower can be counter productive," he said. "USSR, too, had the illusion that they were self sufficient, could develop on their own and did not need anyone and this did not work."
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