Significance of Vladimir Putin visit to India
By: Pallab Ghosh
Radiance News Service
India is all set to welcome Russian President Vladimir Putin who will be visiting India on Sunday. The entire world is eyeing his visit as this historic trip is taking place when the world is gearing up to fight with the recent COVID variant Omicron. This is Putin's second tour after his recent trip to Geneva for the summit meeting with US President Joe Biden.
India and Russia share a warm relation with each other spanning over seven decades. However, there had been some stagnation in this relationship in some areas, but the defence basket remains the strongest pillar of the strategic partnership between the two countries.
Significance of Putin's visit:
The 2+2 ministerial meeting between the Foreign and Defence ministers from India and Russia will commence on Monday, ahead of the Putin-Modi bilateral summit scheduled in the evening. India has 2+2 ministerial formats with only the Quad countries — Japan, United States of America, and Australia.
Strengthening defence cooperation. India has cleared the long-pending AK 203 Kalashnikov rifles ahead of the summit. The deal is worth nearly Rs 5,000 crore. Under the Indo-Russian joint venture, the production of over five lakh rifles will take place at Korwa in Amethi, Uttar Pradesh.
Both India and Russia are set to focus on co-production and co-development of military equipment and platforms.