EAM Jaishankar meets Vladimir Putin in Moscow; Russian President extends invite to PM Modi

INTERNATIONAL DESK: External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

During the meeting, President Putin invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit Russia, 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 Jaishankar at 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 PM 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 the Lok Sabha elections.

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.”

Jaishankar, who is on a five-day visit to Russia, held a “comprehensive and productive” meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Manturov after his arrival on Tuesday.

The two leaders also witnessed the signing of some “very important” agreements related to the construction of the future power-generating units of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu.

Earlier, Jaishankar also met his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.

During a joint media appearance along with Lavrov after their talks, Jaishankar expressed confidence that PM 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.

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. (TOI)