Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Russia on Monday for a two-day high-profile visit. During his stay, he will hold summit talks with President Vladimir Putin to review various aspects of bilateral relations and explore opportunities to enhance cooperation in trade, energy, and defense sectors.
This marks Modi's first trip to Russia in nearly five years, with his last visit being in 2019 when he attended an economic conclave in the Far East city of Vladivostok.
During the 22nd India-Russia annual summit on Tuesday, Modi and Putin are expected to explore ways to further expand bilateral relations in diverse areas, including trade, energy and defence. "The special and privileged strategic partnership between India and Russia has advanced over the past 10 years, including in areas of energy, security, trade, investment, health, education, culture, tourism and people-to-people exchanges," Modi said in his departure statement.
The annual summit between the Prime Minister of India and the President of Russia represents the highest institutional dialogue mechanism within the strategic partnership between the two countries. To date, 21 summits have been held alternately in India and Russia. The most recent summit took place on December 6, 2021, in New Delhi, where President Putin visited India. President Putin has visited India nine times as the head of the Russian state. Prime Minister Modi and President Putin last held bilateral talks on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on September 16, 2022.