Russian President Vladimir Putin came to India to hold a summit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This is the first meeting between the leaders of both countries after their meeting at the BRICS summit in November 2021 held in Brasília.
The Russian President visited India to hold the 21st annual India-Russia summit with Narendra Modi. This is going to be the first in-person meeting between both after the BRICS summit. Despite the concern of the new Covid-19 variant Omicron, President Putin decided to visit India for the summit. The strain has affected the schedule of several International Summits.
President Putin and Prime Minister Modi are ready to sign pacts that will boost the areas such as defence, technology, investment, energy, and trade. Before the summit, a 2+2 dialogue was held at the level of the foreign and defence ministers of both countries.
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S Jaishankar, the minister of external affairs, and Rajnath Singh, the defence minister of India discussed with Sergey Lavrov and Sergey Shoigu. Both the countries were expected to sign several bilateral agreements in various areas of interest of both the countries.
“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”, Arindman Bagchi, spokesperson of the ministry of external affairs stated at the summit.
Narendra Modi and Vladimir Putin met and held the conversation at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi in the evening after the meeting between the defence and external affairs ministers of both India and Russia. Before the summit, India closed the deal of the long-awaited AK 203 Kalashnikov rifles deals worth Rs. 5000 crore for the production of rifles by an Indo-Russian joint venture. The final phase of the deal was likely to be negotiated during the summit.
External Affair Minister, S. Jaishankar said that India and Russia summit is a very unique event and both the leaders share a great relationship of trust and confidence and hoped for significant outcomes from the summit.
India and Russia signed an agreement for the procurement of assault rifles through Indo-Russia rifles private limited, a program for military-technical co-operation for 2021-2031. The meeting also addressed the emergence of multipolarity and rebalancing. The leaders also talked about the consequences of over-centralized globalization, prominent challenges of terrorism, and violent extremism. Rajnath Singh talked about the aftermath of Covid-19 in India, extraordinary militarization in the neighbourhood, and the aggression on the northern borders. He highlighted these as the critical concerns for India. He asserted that India’s development needs are colossal, and the defence challenges are legitimate and immediate.
S. Jaishankar talked about the situation in Afghanistan and mentioned that the situations in Afghanistan have wider repercussions, including for Central Asia. India and Russia are set to renew for the next decade a framework for military-technical co-operation at the summit.
India is likely to appraise Russia about its position on the eastern Ladakh border and its concerns over other regional developments.
Your love towards India is evident; despite Covid and other challenges, India-Russia relations have always strengthened’: PM Modi said at the bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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