Rajnath Singh to attend 21st Inter-Governmental Commission meet in Russia

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is scheduled to visit the Russian Federation from December 8-10.

During the visit, Rajnath Singh and the Defence Minister of Russia Andrey Belousov will co-chair the 21st meeting of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military and Military Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-M & MTC) in Moscow on December 10, a Defence Ministry release said.

The two leaders will review the entire range of multi-faceted relations between the two countries in the field of defence, including military-to-military and industrial cooperation. They will also exchange views on contemporary regional and global issues of mutual interest.

As part of the visit, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will also commission the Indian Navy's latest multi-role stealth-guided missile frigate 'INS Tushil' at Yantra Shipyard, Kaliningrad on December 09, 2024. Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi will accompany Rajnath Singh for the commissioning ceremony, the release mentioned.

In addition, Defence Minister will pay tributes at 'The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier' in Moscow to honour the Soviet soldiers killed during the Second World War. He will also interact with the members of the Indian community.

As per the Ministry of External Affairs, Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to visit India for the annual summit next year, and the dates for the same will be worked out through diplomatic channels.

"We have with Russia an arrangement of annual summits. The last annual summit was held in Moscow, for which the Prime Minister travelled to Moscow. The next one is scheduled to be held in India next year, that is, and the dates for the same will be worked out through diplomatic channels," MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in the weekly press briefing.

President Putin has received an invitation to visit India from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the dates for his visit will be set in early 2025, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said on December 2.