Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Moscow on a two-day visit to Russia for the 22nd India-Russia Annual Summit, during which he will hold summit talks with President Vladimir Putin to review all aspects of bilateral ties and explore opportunities to further boost cooperation in sectors like trade, energy and defence.
It is Prime Minister Modi’s first trip to Russia in nearly five years. His last visit to Russia was in 2019 when he attended an economic conclave in the Far East city of Vladivostok.
Among the slew of programmes, Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to host a dinner for PM Modi while the latter is slated to address the Indian community during the two-day visit.
PM Modi-Vladimir Putin meeting will see the world media including the Chinese, zeroing in on the high-profile meeting that is bound to have a wide geo-political impact in the region.
During the 22nd India-Russia annual summit on Tuesday, Modi and Russian president Vladimir Putin are expected to explore ways to further expand bilateral relations in diverse areas, including trade, energy and defence.
The annual summit between the Prime Minister of India and the President of Russia is the highest institutional dialogue mechanism in the strategic partnership between the two countries. So far, 21 annual summits have taken place alternatively in India and Russia.
The last summit was held on December 6, 2021, in New Delhi. Putin had visited India to attend the summit. Putin, as head of the Russian state, has visited India nine times.
Prime Minister Modi and President Putin last held bilateral talks on the margins of a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) at Samarkand in Uzbekistan on September 16, 2022.
“Today’s era is not of war,” Modi had told Putin, pressing for an end to the conflict in Ukraine. The prime minister has held several telephonic conversations with Putin and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
India has not yet condemned Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and it has been maintaining that the crisis must be resolved through diplomacy and dialogue.
From Russia, Modi will travel to Austria on Tuesday in the first visit by an Indian prime minister to that country in over 40 years.
