India-Russia to ink pacts, discuss important issues during Putin's visit

Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to arrive in India on Monday for the 21st India-Russia Annual Summit.

This will be the first in-person meeting between President Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi after their meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Brasilia in November 2019.

During the summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin will review the state and prospects of bilateral relations between India and Russia and will discuss ways to further strengthen the strategic partnership between the two countries.

"Russian President Vladamir Putin will pay an official visit to New Delhi on December 6 for 21st India, Russia annual Summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi earlier said during a weekly press briefing.

The Summit will offer an opportunity to exchange views on regional multilateral and international issues of mutual interests, Bagchi noted.

"The visit will further provide an impetus to India-Russia special and privileged strategic partnership," Bagchi said.

India and Russia are expected to ink more than 10 bilateral agreements including issues like connectivity, shipping, space, military-technical cooperation, science and technology, education, and culture.

The last India-Russia annual summit took place in 2019 during the visit of Prime Minister Modi to Vladivostok city in Russia.

The annual summit could not take place in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation.

India and Russia will also hold the first "two plus two" format dialogue here. According to the Russian embassy, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu will hold talks with their Indian counterparts Dr S Jaishankar and Rajnath Singh.

The ministers are expected to hold in-depth discussions of the key regional and international topics, including the situation in the Asia-Pacific region and developments in Afghanistan and Syria, as well as exchange views on interaction within the SCO and Russia, India and China (RIC), said the Russian embassy.