Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Dec.6: Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, is scheduled to arrive in India today for the 21st annual India-Russia summit, which will be hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
This will be Prime Minister Modi’s first face-to-face encounter with President Putin since their November 2019 meeting on the margins of the BRICS conference in Brasilia.
Despite the appearance of a new COVID-19 strain, Omicron, which has disrupted the schedule of several bilateral and international summits, Putin chose to go ahead with the visit.
PM Modi and Russian President Putin will evaluate the prospects for bilateral ties and explore measures to expand the strategic relationship between the two countries during the summit.
The yearly summit is an opportunity for both leaders to reevaluate their long-term partnership. India and Russia will hold their first 2+2 interaction at the level of foreign and defence ministers before to the annual summit. The focus of the conversation is expected to be on “political and defence matters of mutual interest.”
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will meet with their Russian counterparts Sergey Lavrov and Sergey Shoigu.
“The dialogue’s agenda will include topics of mutual interest in politics and defence. The development of this new two-plus-two discussion mechanism is likely to boost the strategic alliance between the two countries even further “Arindam Bagchi, a spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, had previously stated.
Following the talks between Mr Putin and PM Modi, both nations are expected to sign multiple bilateral agreements in various fields.
