Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to travel to Moscow in the second week next month to hold the annual India-Russia summit level talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to a report by The Tribune, PM Modi will be on a day-long trip to Russia on July 8.
Meanwhile, Putin’s aide Yury Ushakov was quoted as saying by Russia’s news agency TASS saying: “I can confirm that we’re preparing a visit by the prime minister of India.”
The final contours of PM Modi’s visit are yet to be finalised.
Why is Modi’s Russia trip significant?
1 – PM Modi’s upcoming visit to Russia will be his first since the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in February 2022.
2 – Modi last travelled to Russia in September 2019 to attend the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok. The upcoming visit will be the Indian leader’s first in five years.
3 – Also, Modi will be travelling to Moscow for the first time after 2015. In 2019, he had travelled to Vladivostok
4 – Modi will be visiting Russia just a month after taking charge of the government for the third consecutive term and after Putin was re-elected as the President of Russia for the fifth time in March.
5 – Modi’s visit will be ahead of the BRICS Summit whose presidency is with Russia this year. The summit will be held in Kazan in October and the Indian PM is expected to participate given India is a key member of the grouping.
6 – PM Modi’s likely visit to Moscow will also come amid reports that he could potentially skip the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit scheduled to be held in Astana in the first week of July. The Indian leader’s decision to skip could signify a strategic move amid regional developments.
7 – Russia has been the biggest supplier of defence equipment to India and it also sells discounted crude oil to the Asian nation.
What’s the India-Russia annual summit?
Russia and India have been holding annual summits since 2000, when both countries signed the ‘Declaration on the India-Russia Strategic Partnership,’ which is the highest institutionalised dialogue mechanism in the strategic partnership.
The meetings usually take place alternating between India and Russia.
The tradition of the summit was started to reinforce the strategic partnership between both the countries through high-level meetings and discussions. This paved the way for further cooperation and partnerships in a variety of fields.
In 2020, for the first time, India-Russia annual summit did not take place as Moscow expressed severe reservations on New Delhi joining the Indo-Pacific initiative and Quad. However, both sides said the meet was called off due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
When did the last India-Russia annual summit take place?
The most recent India-Russia annual summit was held in December 2021 in New Delhi, with the presence of Putin.
However, for the past two years, there were no summits held due to the Covid-19 pandemic and geopolitical turbulence in Eastern Europe.
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7 reasons PM Modi’s Russia trip, meeting with Putin in July will be extra special
