India seeks to play a supportive role for a peaceful and stable region, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday as he embarked on a high-profile visit to Russia to hold summit talks with President Vladimir Putin amid the conflict in Ukraine.
India has been stoutly defending its "special and privileged strategic partnership" with Russia and maintained the momentum in the ties notwithstanding the Ukraine conflict.
Prime Minister Modi will hold in-person meetings with President Putin for 8-9 hours during his nearly 24-hour stay in Russia, they said.
The race to the uncharted south pole of the Moon is quickening with India's Chandrayaan-3 and Russia's Luna-25 gearing up for lunar landings next week, each mission holding significant implications beyond the thrilling competition in the skies.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on Tuesday officially conferred the 'Order of St Andrew the Apostle' award by Russian President Vladimir Putin for his contribution to fostering bilateral ties between the two countries.
A bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said Indian firms, involved in the export of arms and equipment to Israel, may be sued for breach of contractual obligations if they are stopped by it from supplying.
Zelenskyy said on the same day that 37 people, including three children, were killed and 170 others were injured due to Russia's missile strike at the largest children's hospital in Ukraine's capital city Kyiv.
Putin and Modi will discuss regional and global security, trade and all other topics on the agenda during their meeting, Peskov was quoted as saying by Russia's state-owned TASS news agency.
New Delhi has reached out to Moscow while waiting for a new president in Washington. New Delhi knows well that in international relations, there are no permanent friends or foes, only permanent national interests, points out Dr Rup Narayan Das.
Russia on Tuesday agreed to India's demand to ensure early release and return to home of the Indian nationals working in the Russian military as support staff after Prime Minister Narendra Modi 'very strongly' raised the issue with President Vladimir Putin.
Ahead of Modi-Putin talks, the US called upon India to make it clear to Russia that any resolution of the Ukraine conflict must respect the United Nations charter and Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty.
Russia on Wednesday said it is hoping for quick resolution of the issue relating to India's call for return of Indians recruited into the Russian Army as support staff and asserted their recruitment was purely a commercial matter.
The two leaders will hold wide-ranging talks at the 22nd India-Russia annual summit on Tuesday that is largely being seen in the context of wider geopolitical turmoil arising out of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
India's trade deficit with Russia continued to widen for the second consecutive year to $57 billion in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24), with Moscow becoming New Delhi's largest source of crude oil imports. All eyes will now be on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Russia during July 8-9, where he is set to meet President Vladimir Putin. This will be Modi's first visit to the Kremlin since the Russia-Ukraine conflict began over two years ago.
The Congress said the PM has neither found the time nor even had the inclination to visit the state for even a few hours.
The US is looking very carefully at what Modi did when he was in Moscow, a senior State Department official has told lawmakers concerned over the growing India-Russia ties.
India is a great power that determines its national interests and chooses its partners, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said, describing as "completely unjustified" the "enormous pressure" on New Delhi due to its energy cooperation with Moscow.
India will continue to be a strategic partner for the United States despite concerns over its ties with Russia, the Biden Administration has said.
The scaling up of the India-US strategic partnership to the level of non-NATO ally with defence deals, sharing and transfer of defence technology, interoperability, joint collaboration and joint production of defence equipment has exacerbated Moscow's anxiety, notes Rup Narayan Das.
US envoy Eric Garcetti on Thursday said he respects that India likes its "strategic autonomy", but in times of conflict, there is no such thing as strategic autonomy, even as he pitched for forging a stronger partnership between New Delhi and Washington.
Jaishankar said that India and Russia have a long-standing relationship that has certainly served New Delhi's interests well.
Singh, who arrived in Moscow on a three-day visit on Tuesday at the invitation of the Russian Ministry of Defence to attend the 75th Anniversary of Victory Day Parade, said his visit to Moscow is the first foreign visit from India of an official delegation after the COVID-19 pandemic.
EAM Jaishankar's mission is aimed at strengthening India's strategic autonomy in a complex international environment, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
His remarks without naming any country came against the backdrop of tension between India and Pakistan after New Delhi revoked Jammu and Kashmir's special status.
India has strongly rejected as "baseless" allegations of its interference in Canadian elections and asserted that the core issue has been Ottawa's meddling in New Delhi's internal affairs.
'India's a sovereign nation, they can make their own decisions in terms of who they're going to conduct exercises with'
Both Putin and Zelenskyy have invited the prime minister to visit Russia and Ukraine respectively after the Lok Sabha elections, sources said, adding they see Modi as a "peacemaker".
'The Vladivostok visit marks a subtle reversal of trend discernible in the revival of India-Russia relations pioneered by Modi during the past couple of years,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Fitch Ratings on Thursday raised its forecast for India's economic growth to 7 per cent for the next fiscal year starting April 1 on the back of strong domestic demand and sustained level of business and consumer confidence. With a stronger-than-expected 8.4 per cent growth in gross domestic product (GDP) during the third quarter (October-December) of the current fiscal year, Fitch saw the Indian economy expanding 7.8 per cent in 2023-24 financial year (April 2023 to March 2024), marginally higher than the government's estimate of 7.6 per cent.
The $10.5 billion arms and equipment deal helped to arrest the recent drift in the 'special and privileged' strategic partnership, observes Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
The annual meeting of the defence ministers of India and Russia, slated for Thursday, has been deferred till October 10 due to inability of the visiting minister to reach New Delhi.
The new flights come against the backdrop of the Indian government's move to boost air connectivity with Central Asia and tap the interest of Russian investors in India.
Russian oil supplies to India will continue to flow unhindered and suppliers will come up with ways to sidestep secondary sanctions, a Russian official told Business Standard.
The two leaders first held one-on-one talks in which the prime minister's principal secretary, Brajesh Mishra, was also participated.
He said both countries are opening new areas of cooperation in the energy sector, telecommunications and science and technology and they have set up funds to facilitate investment in high technologies.
During his meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday, Dr Singh reiterated that Russia stood by India through thick and thin, helping build industry and military.
This was announced by Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath at the conclusion of the 2nd meeting of India-Russia Forum on Trade and Investment, coinciding with the visit of Russian Prime Minister Victor A Zubkov in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said his country was always committed to maintaining peace in the world and outer space.
In August, the top BRICS leaders at the grouping's summit in Johannesburg approved a proposal to admit six countries, including Argentina, into the bloc with effect from January 1.
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