PM Modi To Host Russian President Vladimir Putin On Dec 6 Alongside 2+2 Talks

Jaishankar and Singh were to travel to Moscow in the last week of November but the plan is being amended primarily due to the Winter session of Parliament that is scheduled from November 29.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi & Russian President Vladimir Putin (File Photo)

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi & Russian President Vladimir Putin will have a one on one meeting followed by dinner at the PM's Lok Kalyan Marg's residence on December 6, 2021, along with the first “2+2” format talks, PTI reported.

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will hold the 2+2 dialogue with their Russian counterparts Sergey Lavrov and Sergey Shoygu.

President Putin visited India in 2018 and this time their discussions are likely to focus on Afghanistan, Indo-Pacific, strategic stability, climate change, Middle-East and terrorism. It is expected that the meeting will last only of few hours because of the Covid-19 crisis in Russia. 

According to a PTI report, Jaishankar and Singh were to travel to Moscow in the last week of November but the plan is being amended primarily due to the Winter session of Parliament that is scheduled from November 29. The summit is expected to produce specific outcomes in further expanding ties in areas of defence, trade and energy, report PTI.

It is learnt that the two sides are going to firm up a number of agreements in the areas of defence, trade and investment, and science and technology at the summit. A framework for military-technical cooperation is set to be renewed for the next decade at the summit besides announcing a joint commission on technology and science.

India & Russia is on the final phase of negotiation for a logistics support agreement and it is likely to be signed either during the two-plus-two talks or at the summit. This agreement will allow militaries of the two countries to use each other's bases for repair and replenishment of supplies, besides facilitating scaling up of overall defence cooperation.

The unfolding humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and implications of the Taliban's takeover of Kabul for regional security are also expected to figure prominently at the summit.

The summit was postponed last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Both the countries have a mechanism under which India's prime minister and the Russian president hold a summit meeting annually to review the entire gamut of ties. So far 20 Annual Summit meetings have taken place alternatively in India and Russia.

According to PTI, Jaishankar and Singh were also likely to travel to Washington for the India-US '2+2' dialogue with US Secretay of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin later this month or early December. But it has been pushed to January.