As Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in New Delhi on Wednesday night, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed confidence that the visit will take the bilateral relations to "newer heights."
"Delighted to welcome President Putin to India. Looking forward to a productive visit that will take India, Russia ties to newer heights," Modi tweeted in Russian ahead of his talks with Putin on Thursday on close strategic ties particularly in the fields of nuclear energy, hydrocarbons and defence.
"Times have changed, our friendship has not. Now, we want to take this relation to the next level and this visit is a step in that direction," he said in a post on the micro-blogging site.
"The bond between people of Russia and India is very strong. Our nations have stood by each other through thick and thin," Modi added.
In his talks with Modi, both in restricted and delegation level formats, Putin is likely to seek deeper economic engagement with "time-tested" ally India to try to minimise the impact of sanctions against Russia by the United States and its Western allies over the Ukraine issue.
It will be the first annual summit meeting between Putin and Modi. The two leaders had met on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Brazil in July and during the G-20 summit in Australia last month.
Image: A PM Modi's tweet in Russian ahead of meeting with Vladimir Putin.Photograph: Courtesy @narendramodi/Twitter
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