Russian Envoy to India, Denis Alipov has now claimed that India and Russia have been brought closer due to Western sanctions. His comments came as he hailed the friendship between the leaders of the two countries – Vladimir Putin and Narendra Modi. “Talking about the explosive, record growth of our cooperation in the energy field, our oil supplies, it would be appropriate to say that the sanctions that were introduced and expanded against us, in this case, had the opposite effect and became a catalyst for our trade relations,” Alipov told Channel One. Watch this video for more details.