PM Modi to visit Russia today

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Russia on Monday for an informal summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the city of Sochi.

The informal summit between the two leaders, which, has a broad-based agenda on global and regional issues, is expected to see the discussions on global terrorism, situation in Afghanistan-Pakistan, Syria, Islamic State (IS).

Indian envoy to Russia Pankaj Saran on Sunday exclusively told ANI that the two leaders will discuss mutual cooperation to improve each other's economy and influence in the international sphere.

Apart from holding bilateral talks on the entire gamut of bilateral relations, Saran said Prime Minister Modi and President Putin may also discuss the repercussions of Iran nuclear deal post the withdrawal of the United States from the same.

Since India and Russia are both victims of terrorism, the two sides will also discuss ISIS threat and the situation in Afghanistan and Syria.

On reaching, Prime Minister Modi will be received by local dignitaries at the airport. He is then scheduled to visit the residence resort of President Putin.

According to the sources, large part of the informal meeting is one to one and a restricted delegation-level meeting is likely.

During the summit, the Indo-Russian cooperation in Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and association of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) is likely to come as well.

The two leaders may also discuss the India-Russia civil nuclear cooperation in third countries.

Most part of the five-hour engagement is one to one. Both the leaders will also exchange views on their domestic priorities.

The informal interaction has no specific agenda and is very flexible. No regular protocol will be practiced, the sources said.

President Putin will also host lunch for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

On Sunday, the Prime Minister took to Twitter and said that his visit will strengthen the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between two countries.

"Greetings to the friendly people of Russia. I look forward to my visit to Sochi tomorrow and my meeting with President Putin. It is always a pleasure to meet him," he tweeted.

Am confident the talks with President Putin will further strengthen the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between India and Russia," he said in another tweet.

This will be an important occasion for the two leaders to exchange views on international matters in a broad and long-term perspective with the objective of further strengthening the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership, a statement from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), issued on May 14, read.

The statement added this informal summit in Sochi, between Prime Minister Modi and President Putin, in keeping with the tradition of regular consultations between India and Russia at the highest levels.

According to the statement, the summit is taking place at the invitation of Putin.

"There are plans to discuss key issues developing Russian-Indian very privileged strategic partnership and also to exchange views on vital issues of the international and regional agenda," the Russian news agency TASS reported citing, the Kremlin press service, as saying in a statement.

This will be the first meeting between President Putin and Prime Minister Modi this year, however, since the beginning of the year, the two leaders have had several phone conversations.

This comes barely a month after when Prime Minister Modi attended a two-day informal summit along with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Wuhan city.