NEW DELHI: Russian President Vladimir Putin will arrive in India on December 6 to hold a bilateral discussion with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Also, the first-ever India-Russia 2+2 talks will be held on the same day when the foreign and defence ministers of the two countries will hold bilateral discussions.
Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs on Friday said, “In New Delhi, on December 6, the first 2+2 Ministerial Level Talks will take place. And for this Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu will be here to hold discussions with the Indian counterparts Dr S Jaishankar and Rajnath Singh.”
The discussion is planned to include talks on the further development of relations of the special and privileged strategic partnership between the two countries. Among the issues of international importance on the table are the joint work within the G20, BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
The situation in Afghanistan is also likely to be part of the discussion
It is expected that the ministers will have in-depth discussions on the key regional and international topics, including the situation in the Asia-Pacific region and developments in Afghanistan and Syria.
The two countries share deeper military ties and it is expected that the long-awaited Reciprocal Exchange of Logistics Agreement (RELOS) may get inked. With such an agreement, the militaries of both countries will get access to support facilities at each other’s bases and ports.
They are also expected to exchange views on interaction within the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and Russia-India-China.
India has held this format of 2+2 talks with the US, Australia and Japan.