Russia’s president and India’s PM to meet today in New Delhi

NEW DELHI, Dec 6, 2021, Mint. Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to arrive in India today to hold the 21st annual India-Russia summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This will be the first in-person meeting between Prime Minister Modi and President Putin after their meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Brasilia in November 2019, Mint reported.

The meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take place at Hyderabad House in New Delhi today. The meeting assumes great significance as Modi and Putin will be discussing the bilateral relation and talk about ways to boost the strategic ties between the two countries. PM Modi will also host a dinner in honour of President Putin at Hyderabad House.

During the summit, PM Modi and the Russian President will review the prospects of bilateral relations and will discuss ways to further strengthen the strategic partnership between the two countries. The annual summit is a time for both leaders to recalibrate the long-standing relationship.

Before the annual summit, India and Russia will also hold the first 2 2 dialogue to be held at the level of the foreign and defence ministers. The dialogue is expected to focus on “political and defence issues of mutual interest”.

“The agenda for the dialogue will cover political and defence issues of mutual interest. The establishment of this new mechanism of two plus two dialogue is expected to further strengthen the strategic partnership between the two countries,” Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi had said last month.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will hold discussions with their Russian counterparts Sergey Lavrov and Sergey Shoigu.

Both countries are expected to sign several bilateral agreements in various areas following the talks between Putin and PM Modi.