The stage is set for the meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Hyderabad House in New Delhi on Monday. This will be the first face-to-face meeting between the two after meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in November 2019.
The meeting is of great importance as Modi and Putin will discuss the bilateral relationship and discuss ways to strengthen the strategic ties between the two countries.
The tradition of summit talks between India and Russia has continued since 2000. Putin will come for talks that will take place in the 21st episode of this summit. With Putin’s last visit, India and Russia are starting a tradition of 2 + 2 dialogue.
Before the India-Russia summit, there will be a meeting of the defense ministers of the two countries around 10 a.m. At the same time, the foreign ministers of India and Russia will also meet in parallel. However, there will be no media statements or question and answer sessions for both meetings.
The meeting of Prime Minister Modi and President Putin in the evening will also be limited to photo operations only.
This is the first meeting between Putin and Modi since the establishment of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. The two leaders expressed concern over factors of instability, including Islamic fundamentalism, terrorism and drug trafficking. In the balance of power in the region, India’s effort is to keep Russia by its side.
Russia’s support is also important to India due to lingering border tensions with China. It should be noted that the first meeting of defense and foreign ministers of India and China was held in Moscow amid border tensions that have persisted for 18 months.
India supports the INSTC (International North-South Trade Corridor) project extended by Russia against the BRI, in partnership with China and Pakistan. India has already offered to link the Iran-built Chabahar port project to INSTC.
The Modi-Putin meeting is crucial as many political experts question India’s relationship with Russia in the wake of Russia’s improved relationship with Pakistan and China. Other experts also focused on the fact that India’s growing engagement with the United States could be a stumbling block for its partnership with Moscow.
However, refuting these arguments, a Moscow-based political analyst said Indo-Russian relations would not be affected by pressure from third parties.
Andrew Korybko, a political expert, in an email interview with the ANI news agency, said: “In the context of US-Russian tensions, and in particular threats from the United States to sanction India in CAATSA’s framework for the purchase of S-400 air defense systems from Russia, this shows that the historic Russo-Indian axis – which is among the most enduring of the modern era – remains strong and is not affected by third party pressure.
