President Putin invites PM Modi to visit Russia

PTI, Dec 28, 2023, 10:27 AM IST

Moscow: President Vladimir Putin Wednesday invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit Russia next year, saying it will give them an opportunity to discuss all current issues and talk about the outlook for the development of bilateral relations.

“We will be glad to see our friend, Mr Prime Minister Modi in Russia,” Putin told External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who called on the Russian leader at the Kremlin.

“We will be able to discuss all current issues, talk about the outlook for the development of Russian-Indian relations. We have a very large amount of work to do,” the Russian leader was quoted as saying by the state-run Tass news agency.

He asked the Indian minister to pass on to Modi “his best wishes” and an invitation to come to Russia.

Putin said that he realised India will be busy with internal affairs next year as the country is poised to hold a parliamentary election.

Jaishankar, who is here on a five-day official visit to Russia, earlier met with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.

During a joint media appearance along with Lavrov after their talks, Jaishankar said he was confident that Prime Minister Modi and President Putin will meet for an annual summit next year. In his opening remarks earlier, Jaishankar said that the two leaders have been in frequent contact.

The summit between the prime minister of India and the Russian president is the highest institutional dialogue mechanism in the strategic partnership between the two sides.

So far, 21 annual summits have taken place alternatively in India and Russia. The last summit took place in New Delhi in December 2021.

Putin also said that the trade turnover between Russia and India is growing, particularly on account of crude oil and high technology areas, Tass reported.

“Our trade turnover is growing, for the second year in a row at the same time and at a steady pace. The growth rate this year is even higher than in the last year,” he said.

As soon as the meeting started, the Russian president told Jaishankar that they will discuss the conflict in Ukraine.

“We know Prime Minister Modi’s position and we have repeatedly spoken about this — the position concerning his attitude to complex processes, including hotspots, to the situation in Ukraine,” Putin said.

“I have repeatedly informed him about the situation around this conflict. I know about his desire to do everything to resolve this problem peacefully, but we will now talk more about it. We will provide you with additional information about this situation.”

The ties between India and Russia remained strong notwithstanding Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. India has not yet condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and it has been maintaining that the crisis must be resolved through diplomacy and dialogue.

India’s import of Russian crude oil has gone up significantly despite increasing disquiet over it in many Western countries.