The Kremlin on Friday said that Russia is expecting a "very important and full-fledged visit" by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for summit-level talks with President Vladimir Putin, adding somewhat provocatively that the West is looking at this visit "with envy in their eyes".
The Prime Minister will be visiting Moscow on July 8-9 at the invitation received by the President of the Russian Federation, Putin, to attend the 22nd India-Russia Annual Summit. This would be the first visit to Russia by Modi since the country's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
During the visit, he added, the leadership would review the overall relations between the two countries besides holding talks on regional and global issues of mutual concern. An official announcement to this effect was made by the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi on Thursday.
In an interview with the state-run VGTRK television channel on Saturday, Dmitry Peskov said that Prime Minister Modi's schedule in Moscow will indeed be pretty packed, allowing both formal and informal discussions. He told, " Obviously, the agenda will be extensive, if not to say overbusy. It will be an official visit, and we hope that the heads will be able to talk in an informal way as well."
Peskov said, "The relationship at the level of strategic partnership between Russian-Indian relations will involve both one-on-one discussions and meetings involving delegations." He went on to say, "We are awaiting a very important and full-scale visit, which is so important for Russian-Indian relations.".
He also brought to the fore the West's keen interest, saying, "They are envious — that means they are keeping a close eye on it. Their close watch means they are attaching great importance to it. And they are not mistaken, there is something to attach great importance to," in response to a query about the West's attitude towards the visit, according to the Tass report.
Since 2022, when the war broke out following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Modi has repeatedly spoken over the telephone to Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, urging that the war fomenting disruption to the global economy must end.
The strong relationship shared between Russia and India has precipitated the fact that the latter has been very careful not to condemn Moscow's attacks on Ukraine and constantly reached out to get this crisis worked out through diplomats and discussions. Moreover, India's import of discounted Russian crude oil increased several times more despite the G7 price cap, along with the growing concern within many Western Capitals.
The last time Modi visited Russia was almost five years ago, back in 2019, when he went to Vladivostok to take part in an economic conclave. The highest institutionalized dialogue mechanism in the strategic partnership between India and Russia is the annual summit contact between the Indian Prime Minister and the Russian President. To date, 21st annual summits have alternated between India and Russia, with the most recent held on 6 December 2021 in New Delhi during the visit of Putin to India.
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