Russian Foreign Minister reaffirms strong ties with India ahead of ministerial meet

File pic/AFP

During his meeting with External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday reaffirmed Moscow's strong and steady ties with New Delhi and said that "we are awaiting 2+2 format meeting today".

Lavrov's remarks came ahead of the 2+2 ministerial dialogue between India and Russia today.

"I would like to reaffirm what you [Jaishankar] said about the nature of the Russia-India relationship. We're awaiting a 2+2 format meeting today," Lavrov said in his opening remarks during the meeting with his Indian counterpart.

"Significant documents drafted for signing following today's events," Lavrov added. Russian Foreign Minister's remarks came after Jaishankar expressed that the India-Russia partnership is special and ties between the two countries have been remarkably strong in the world of rapid geopolitical changes.

"The partnership between India and Russia is special and unique. I am confident that our discussions today will be very fruitful. The annual India-Russia summit is taking place after a gap of two years today," said Jaishankar during his meeting.

Earlier today, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh met with Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu here at Sushma Swaraj Bhawan. Later in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold the 21st annual India-Russia summit.

It will be the first face-to-face meeting between Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after the meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in November 2019.

On Saturday, the Russian Ambassador to India Nikolay Kudashev had said that he is expecting a "sizeable and formidable joint political statement" from the annual summit.Both countries are expected to sign more than 10 agreements following annual talks between PM Modi and President Putin. These agreements will be in the fields of space, culture, science and technology, defence etc.

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