PM welcomes Putin at airport in warm gesture, hails India-Russia partnership

PM welcomes Putin at airport in warm gesture, hails India-Russia partnership

In a special gesture, Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin upon his arrival at the Air Force Station, Palam on Thursday evening, ahead of the India-Russia annual summit scheduled for Friday. This is Mr. Putin’s first state visit to India since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, which is currently drawing global attention because of renewed peace efforts involving U.S. President Donald Trump.

“Delighted to welcome my friend, President Putin to India. Looking forward to our interactions later this evening and tomorrow. India-Russia friendship is a time-tested one that has greatly benefited our people,” said Prime Minister Modi after greeting Mr. Putin on the tarmac of AFS Palam.

Mr. Putin’s first engagement started with a private dinner with Mr. Modi at the latter’s official residence at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg. The Russian leader will receive a ceremonial reception at the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan at 11 a.m. on Friday, which will be followed by a visit to Rajghat, where he will lay a wreath at the memorial to Mahatma Gandhi.

On agenda
The 23rd India-Russia annual summit will commence at 11.50 a.m. at Hyderabad House, to be followed by press statements by Mr. Modi and Mr. Putin. The Russian leader had visited India last on December 6, 2021 for the annual summit when he had not addressed the media as it was a brief visit. On Friday afternoon, Mr. Putin will attend a business event at the Bharat Mandapam in the capital. His last official engagement on Friday will be at the Rashtrapati Bhavan where President Droupadi Murmu will host him at a banquet dinner.

Several members of Mr. Putin’s official delegation reached New Delhi hours before his arrival. Russian Defence Minister Andrei Belousov met Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday evening. In a post on ‘X’, Mr. Singh said after the meeting “India is determined for expanding capacity of indigenous defence industry for both local production and exports” and discussed “new opportunities” in “niche technologies”.

Around the same time, Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov met Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and discussed interbank, credit cooperation, expanding payment infrastructure and the India-Russia investment protection agreement.

Timed with these discussions, Herman Gref, CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board of Russia’s largest bank Sberbank met the media and announced that Russia and India have been carrying out largescale transactions without the use of ‘third party’ technology.

Mr. Gref also said that Sberbank have launched First-India, a closed-end mutual fund focused on Nifty50 index that will facilitate greater Russian investments into the Indian stock market.

Both Ministers reiterated that the bilateral partnership is rooted in deep mutual trust, shared principles, and long-standing respect, the Ministry of Defence said. Mr. Singh further underscored India’s commitment to strengthening its indigenous defence manufacturing ecosystem under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat vision, the Ministry said.