Russian President Putin invites PM Modi to visit Russia next year

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday has invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit Russia next year. The Russian president invited PM Modi during his meeting with External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar, who is on a five-day official visit to Russia.

EAM Jaishankar on Wednesday met Putin at the Kremlin, where Putin said, “We will be glad to see our friend, Mr. Prime Minister Modi in Russia."

The external affairs minister, earlier met with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.

EAM S Jaishankar is on 5-day official visit to Russia

After meeting Lavrov, Jaishankar addressed a joint press conference saying he was confident that Prime Minister Modi and President Putin will meet for an annual summit next year. In his opening remarks earlier, Jaishankar said that the two leaders have been in frequent contact.

Talking to media personnel in Russia, Jaishankar stated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is looking forward to visiting Russia next year, and that a mutually convenient date will be set in the coming days.

Earlier, during his meeting with the External Affairs Minister of India, Putin talked about PM Modi’s stance on Russia-Ukraine conflict, saying, “We know PM Modi’s position and we have repeatedly spoken about this, the position concerning his attitude to complex processes, including hotspots, to the situation in Ukraine. I have repeatedly informed him about the situation surrounding this conflict. I know his desire to do everything to resolve this problem through peaceful means. Now we will talk about this in more detail and inform you further.”

Putin also said that the trade turnover between Russia and India is growing, particularly on account of crude oil and high technology areas. He said, "Our trade turnover is growing, for the second year in a row at the same time and at a steady pace. The growth rate this year is even higher than in the last year."

The summit between the prime minister of India and the Russian president is the highest institutional dialogue mechanism in the strategic partnership between the two sides.

Significance of Russian President’s invitation to PM Modi

The Russian President’s invitation to Prime Minister Modi holds a significant importance, which underscores the strength of diplomatic ties the two countries share. Strong diplomatic ties have resulted in major growth in trade between the two powers of the world, especially after the Russia-Ukraine war.

In his invitation to PM Modi, Putin too emphasized the growth of trade turnover between Russia and India, particularly on account of crude oil and high technology areas. The growth rate this year is said to be even higher than last year.

India's import of Russian crude oil has gone up significantly despite increasing disquiet over it in many Western countries.

Russia-Ukraine conflict is a major concern, not for Russia and Ukraine, but for the entire world. PM Modi has also on several occasions repeated that the solution to any diplomatic crisis should be brought by the dialogues. He has always advocated for peace. The two leaders during their meeting will discuss the conflict in Ukraine.

The ties between India and Russia remained strong notwithstanding Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. India has not yet condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and it has been maintaining that the crisis must be resolved through diplomacy and dialogue.