Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. File image.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will arrive Moscow on July 8 to a particularly warm and special welcome at a private dinner hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin at his Dacha or estate in the Moscow suburb of Novo-Ogaryovo. The meeting of the two leaders, their first since 2022, is also Mr. Modi’s first visit to Russia since the war in Ukraine began and his own first visit abroad for bilateral talks since he was re-elected to office in June. The two leaders will be together for most of the events during the two-day, approximately 26-hour visit by Mr. Modi.
Mr. Modi will land on Monday afternoon and receive a ceremonial welcome at the Vanukovo airport and travel to his hotel across from the iconic Red Square that houses the Kremlin, where school children and members of the Indian community will greet him. The one-on-one dinner with Mr. Putin will reciprocate the dinner Mr. Modi had hosted for the Russian President during his visit to Delhi the last time an India-Russia Summit was held, in December 2021. It is expected to set the tone for formal talks the next day.
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On Tuesday, Mr. Modi will address members of the Indian community at a reception for about 500 people at his hotel. He will then pay respects at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a memorial for Russian soldiers who have died in war. Mr. Modi will be joined by Mr. Putin for a visit to an exhibition venue for Rosatom on nuclear power-related technology developments, a key segment of bilateral ties, after which they will go into formal meetings and delegation level-talks at the Kremlin.
Sources aware of the planning said that the dinner at the Dacha on Monday is a special gesture by the Russian President, extended only to a few global leaders. For Mr. Putin, Mr. Modi’s visit, close on the heels of his state visits to China and North Korea, meetings on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Astana last week, as well as hosting Hungarian PM Viktor Orban a few days ago, adds to an effort to show that the while the “Western alliance” may wish to isolate him for the war in Ukraine, the “global majority”, as the Kremlin refers to it, maintains close and personal ties with him.
When asked, Indian Ambassador Vinay Kumar said that the scheduling of Mr. Modi’s visit should be seen in the “bilateral context” alone. “Since there have been no annual summits since 2021, it was a priority to resume the bilateral summit mechanism, and both sides have been working towards this,” Mr. Kumar told The Hindu at the Indian Embassy in Moscow on Sunday.
Recovering ground lost over three years will therefore be at the top of the agenda of the 22nd Annual Summit, although Foreign and Defence Ministers, the National Security Advisors and Deputy NSAs have met regularly for strategic, trade, military and technical talks, including a major five-day visit by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar to Moscow and St. Petersburg in December 2023.
Officials said that official talks and delegation-level talks on Tuesday will focus on addressing trade and banking challenges due to western sanctions, the possibility of more predictable pricing and long-term contracts for Indian energy imports in oil and LNG, opportunities for investment, as well as connectivity projects like the International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC), the Chennai-Vladivostok maritime route, and the North Sea corridor. Here too, sanctions against Russia as well as Iran are a factor and require discussion, and the two sides are expected to sign a separate agreement on cooperation in the Russian “Far East” region.
While no new defence procurement deals are on the anvil, Mr. Modi is expected to request expediting delayed deliveries for India, including the remainder S-400 missile defence systems, as well as spares and requirements for India-Russia joint ventures in defence production. The issue of Indians in the Russian Army will feature, as Mr. Modi will press for early discharge or even a full waiver of the processes for those wishing to return, as soon as possible.