NEW DELHI: The ministry of external affairs (MEA) on Friday hit out at Nato chief Mark Rutte over his recent remark claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Russian President Vladimir Putin after the US tariff move. In a strongly-worded reply, the MEA termed the remark “factually incorrect” and “entirely baseless”.MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal clearly stated that “at no point has Prime Minister Modi spoken with President Putin in the manner suggested. No such conversation has taken place.” “We expect the leadership of an important institution like Nato to exercise greater responsibility and accuracy in public statements. Speculative or careless remarks that misrepresent the Prime Minister’s engagements or suggest conversations that never occurred are unacceptable,” he stressed.“These are speculative and careless remarks,” the spokesperson said. Earlier, Nato chief Mark Rutte backed US President Donald Trump’s punitive tariffs on India saying that the measures have already had an impact on the war in Ukraine. He claimed that PM Modi dialled Putin after Trump’s action and asked him about Ukraine plan. Speaking on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, Rutte was asked whether Trump would actually impose sanctions, given his history of rolling deadlines. “He already did. We have seen not the big ones, the big one on India,” Rutte said. “Yes, but I’m talking about on Russia. Yeah, but this, this immediately impacts Russia because that means that Delhi is now on the phone with Vladimir, Vladimir with Putin in Moscow and Narendra Modi asking, hey, I support you, but again, could you explain to me this strategy? Because I have now been hit by, by these 50% tariffs by the United States. So President Trump is implementing what he says, but of course, we are not happy that so far we have not been able collectively to end the war. But and he is working on it,” he added.