The External Affairs Minister said that the relationship between New Delhi and Moscow remains very steady and strong and is based on strategic convergence on geopolitical interests.

India-Russia Relationship: President Vladimir Putin will meet India’s External Affairs (EAM) Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday. This information was shared by the Kremlin. EAM Jaishankar is in Russia on a five-day official visit.

“Tonight, the president plans to receive Mr. Jaishankar, India’s foreign minister,” Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow noting that the EAM had already met with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.

“India is an important partner of Russia, so the ministers will talk about the contacts held and the course of their discussion,” reported the Kremlin spokesman.

While addressing the joint press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Jaishankar appreciated the India-Russia trade, which is at an all-time high. He said that the negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement between India and the Eurasian Economic Union will resume in January next year.

“It’s always good to be in Moscow. So, I agree with you that our relationship has been very strong, very steady, and I think we have lived up to the responsibilities of a special and privileged strategic partnership,” Jaishankar told Lavrov.

The External Affairs Minister said that the relationship between New Delhi and Moscow remains very steady and strong and is based on strategic convergence on geopolitical interests.

Jaishankar On Tuesday held a “comprehensive and productive” meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Manturov on the bilateral economic cooperation during which they witnessed the signing of some “very important” agreements related to the construction of the future power-generating units of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu.

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.

“Russia is India’s “valued and time-tested partner”, said India’s EAM adding that India and Russia have benefited enormously from the relationship that the two nations share and the developments in various sectors, including trade, investment, and military technical cooperation showcase a good sense of importance that New Delhi attaches to its ties with Moscow.

He said India greatly values the tradition of annual meetings between leaders of India and Russia adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin did not hold an annual meeting due to India’s G20 Presidency and preoccupations at the end of the year and expressed confidence that the annual meeting will be held next year.

“The tradition of annual meetings between our leaders is something that we value very greatly and as someone who has seen it over the last decade, I can attest to its enormous value. I think, my colleague has seen it for longer and could confirm what I am saying. I don’t think it is an issue of resumption of the summits. This year, because of our G20 presidency and at the end of the year, we had some preoccupations.

“It so happened that it could not I am very confident that we will see an annual summit next year and again, you know ours is really ours is really a relationship which at every level, starting with you know the relationship between the leaders to right down to the popular level, the societal sentiment, I think we have really very positive feelings for each other and I think that is a really big source of strength for the relationship.”

“We have had a very good session of talks and today, what really came out was India-Russia relationship remains very steady, very strong. They are based on strategic convergence on geopolitical interests and because they are mutually beneficial,” Jaishankar said.

“We spent a lot of time discussing political cooperation, with regards to a lot of international issues including international organisations like BRICS of which Russia will be the President, SCO,” he added.

Meanwhile, President Vladimir Putin has invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit Russia, reported Russian State media.

(With agency inputs)