New Delhi, July 25 (Reporter) India on Thursday defended its longstanding relations with Russia and pointed out that in a multipolar world all countries have the freedom of choice, in response to a senior US official saying that Washington was disappointed about the symbolism and timing of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Russia visit. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, at a media briefing, said: “India has longstanding relations with Russia based on mutuality of interests. In a multipolar world, all countries have the freedom of choice. It is essential for everybody to be mindful of and appreciate such realities.” His comments came in response to a question about US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Donald Lu's statement at a Congressional hearing on Tuesday where he said: “I could not agree with you more about our disappointment about the symbolism and the timing of Prime Minister Modi's trip to Moscow. We are having those tough conversations with our Indian friends.” “I assure you may be if I could just take a moment to put into context that visit. Prime Minister Modi, two weeks before he went to Moscow, also saw (Ukrainian) President Zelenskyy on the margins of the G7 summit in Italy,” Lu said. “The US is looking very carefully at what Modi did when he was in Moscow,” he added. He went on to add: "We did not see any new major defence deals. We saw no major discussion of technology cooperation. In addition, you have Modi having said in front of Putin on live television, his feeling that the war in Ukraine could not be won on the battlefield and the pain that he felt watching the death of children in war." “A clear reference to the bombing of the children's hospital in Kyiv that happened while he was there. I share your concern about this visit, sir, and we are trying very hard to communicate those concerns directly to the Indians.” He also claimed that India has “cancelled billions of dollars in defence purchases over these last two and a half years because the Russians can't deliver anymore. So we're working very hard on that...////...