Prime Minister Narendra Modi will raise > India’s “concerns” regarding Russian cooperation with Pakistan during the bilateral summit meeting, which will be held here on Saturday.
Diplomats said the recent >Russia-Pakistan military exercise was an isolated “episode” but expressed the hope that as a “special privileged partner” Russia will address India’s Pakistan-related concerns. “The incident was a single episode and will not affect our ties,” said Pankaj Saran, ambassador of India to Russia. “As far as Pakistan is concerned, Russia will reflect our concerns on terrorism.” Presenting the agenda of the bilateral summit, which will be followed by the five-nation BRICS summit on Sunday, Mr. Saran said there was no difference in Russian and Indian counter-terror strategy.
Ahead of the BRICS summit, President Vladimir Putin told a state-owned news outlet, “The meeting is a good opportunity for the five leaders to coordinate positions on the key issues of the international agenda. We are resolved to fight terrorism, drug-trafficking, and corruption and jointly contribute to conflict resolution.”
Mr. Putin said Russia was moving towards having a “regional" approach to deal with threats from South Asia. “Our country is committed to developing cooperation formats… that would make it possible to promptly respond to security threats and jointly search for ways to counter potential threats.”
Deal likely India and Russia are likely to > ink a deal on the S-400 Triumf long range air defence system estimated to be worth Rs. 39,000 crore. The S-400 is considered one of the most advanced long range defence systems in the world and can tackle all incoming airborne targets at ranges of up to 400 km.
The second deal likely to be signed is for a Joint Venture to be set up by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited of India and Rostec State Corporation of Russia to manufacture Kamov-226T utility helicopters in India. It is understood that under the agreement, at least 200 helicopters would be produced to replace the ageing Cheetah and Chetak fleets of the armed forces. In addition, the FGFA, Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft is also expected to be taken up during the summit.
( With inputs from Dinakar Peri )
An earlier version of this article stated that S-400 Triumf deal would be worth Rs. 39,000. The correct figure is Rs. 39,000 crore. The error is regretted.
