Enhancing bilateral trade, nuclear and technology cooperation will be at the top of the agenda, but multilateral issues will hold centre stage during Narendra Modi's talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin at St. Petersburg, the Prime Minister indicated in an article published ahead of his visit on Wednesday.
Mr. Modi arrived last evening in St. Petersburg, the former capital of imperial Russia that was founded by Czar Peter the Great in 1703, and was also known as Petrograd and Leningrad.
Here are the live updates:
Modi, Putin hold talks on wide-ranging issues
Mr. Modi and Mr. Putin held wide-ranging talks on bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual interests, including ways to boost energy and trade ties.
At the beginning of their restricted meeting, Mr. Modi told Mr. Putin he was happy to be able to visit his hometown as Prime Minister. This is for the first time Indo-Russia summit in Russia was happening outside Moscow in St Petersburg.
“Normally, international relations see ups and downs but history is witness Indo-Russia relations have not seen any ups and downs,” the Prime Minister said and thanked the Russian president for playing crucial role in getting India Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) membership.
Mr. Putin said India will become a full-fledged member of the SCO in a week.
Mr. Modi mentioned to Mr. Putin about his visit to the cemetery this morning where he paid homage to the victims of the World War II. “You are a leader whose family has given sacrifices. Your brother was martyred,” Mr. Modi told Mr. Putin.
2.00 pm: Mr.Modi today paid floral tributes to the victims of the World War II at the historic Piskarevskoe Memorial Cemetery in St Petersburg, the cultural capital of Russia. Ahead of summit level talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin today, Modi drove to the monument on the north—eastern outskirts of the city that holds the graves of around five lakh who died during the Siege of Leningrad.
At the cemetery, Modi placed flowers and then stood in silence for a few minutes. The Piskarevskoe Memorial Cemetery is the largest cemetery of the victims of the World War II. In 186 mass graves in the cemetery lie the 420,000 residents of the city who died of starvation, bombing, shelling, and 70,000 soldiers — defenders of Leningrad, the old name of St Petersburg.
1.30 pm: The two sides are also expected to announce, or at least finalise, the MoU for the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project units 5&6. “We have had discussions with many countries, but Russia has emerged as the only country with which we have successfully collaborated in the atomic power sector,” said Indian Ambassador Pankaj Saran.
1.00 pm: During the summit on June 1, PM Modi and President Putin are expected to spell out a “joint vision statement” aimed at re-energising the relationship on the bilateral, and also the multilateral sphere. In an editorial this week, Mr. Putin called the two countries “equal partners in international affairs”, suggesting that a free trade agreement between the Eurasian Economic Union and India, as well as developing the International North South Transport Corridor would be a part of it.
12.30 pm: The Modi-Putin meeting is significant as is comes amid a visible strain in India-Russia ties that have further strained since his last meeting with President Putin in Goa, on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in October 2016, and rising discomfort over Russia’s growing alliance with China and ties with Pakistan. The BRICS meeting came against the backdrop of the Uri attacks, as well as Russia’s decision to go ahead with military exercises with Pakistan despite the Modi government’s publicly stated policy of “isolating” Pakistan.
12.15 pm: “There is [a] loosening of the traditional power balance in the world,” Mr. Modi wrote in the Rossiyskaya Gazeta . “New centres of influence and new engines of growth are emerging,” he said adding that India and Russia were “natural partners” in fighting terrorism, and promoting a multipolar international system.
