NEW DELHI: Russian President Vladimir Putin has extended an invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit the country. “We will be glad to see our friend Narendra Modi in Russia. We will be able to discuss all current issues and talk about the prospects for the development of Russia-India relations. We have so much work,” Putin said, during his interaction with External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar in Moscow on Wednesday.
The Russian President also said that he understood India’s position on Ukraine. “I have repeatedly informed him about the situation surrounding the conflict. I know his desire to do everything to resolve this problem through peaceful means,” Putin said. As he spoke about the upcoming elections in India, Putin said he was hopeful that ties between the two nations would remain stable.
He also spoke about the increasing trade turnover between the two nations. “Our trade turnover is growing for the second year in a row and at a steady pace. This year, the pace is even greater than last year. We work in high tech areas and our relations with India are developing progressively,” he added.
Earlier in the day, Jaishankar had said that the India-Russia Annual Summit will resume in 2024. It may be recalled that for the last two years, the India-Russia Summit has not been held owing to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine in 2022 and this year due to PM Modi’s diplomatic engagements and India’s G20 Presidency.
“India-Russia relations reflect geopolitical realities, strategic convergence and mutual benefit. We signed Protocol on Consultations for 2024-28,” said Jaishankar, who is on a five-day visit to Moscow. The EAM and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, met for the seventh time this year.
“I learned this is our seventh meeting, part of it is of course the G20, the SCO, the ASEAN, BRICS formats have today allowed many more and many regular contacts. And our leaders, Prime Minister Modi and President Vladimir Putin, have also been in frequent contact,” Jaishankar added.
As strategic partners, Jaishankar in his interaction with Lavrov discussed the international situation, and exchanged views on the Ukraine conflict, Gaza, Afghanistan, Central Asia, G20, BRICS and SCO. “Russia supports Indian aspiration of becoming a permanent member of UNSC along with representatives from Latin America and Africa. Russia and India ties are based on mutual respect, not subject to political fluctuations,” said Lavrov.
“What has clearly came out after out talks was that India-Russia relations remain very steady, very strong. They are based on our strategic convergence, on our geopolitical interests, and because they are mutually beneficial. We spent a lot of time discussing political cooperation with regard to various international issues, including global organisations, BRICS, of which Russia will be the president,” Jaishankar said.