Modi meets Putin in Russian Federation with eye on defence deals

These are matters of grave national sensitivities and we believe particularly that when the Prime Minister overseas represents the whole nation, these sensitivities must always be respected, party spokesperson and former Law Minister Ashwani Kumar said at the Congress briefing.

Among the other agreements signed were those related to railways, solar energy, heavy engineering and hydrocarbons.

Russian Federation and India will together build multi-task Kamov-226 helicopters, Modi said. Trade and economic cooperation were also high on the agenda of this year’s annual dialogue.So far, 15 meetings have taken place alternatively in India and Russian Federation with the last annual summit held in New Delhi during the December 11, 2014 visit of Mr Putin to the country.

Modi began his visit on Wednesday when he had a private dinner with Putin.

Modi said he and Russian president Vladimir Putin had talked in detail about the future of Eurasia and how it can create more opportunities for growth.

The two sides signed several agreements in diverse fields of bilateral cooperation, including several commercial agreements between Russian and Indian companies. The meeting is expected to result in the signing of a number of documents aimed at increasing trade and economic cooperation between the sides.

Dipankar Banerjee, a defence analyst at Delhi-based think tank Forum for Strategic Initiatives, said India was “vulnerable to Pakistan and China both in terms of missile attacks and air strikes” and that the S-400 systems were “very desirable” despite a hefty price tag.

“We are making progress on our plans for 12 Russian nuclear reactors at two sites”.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has gifted Prime Minister Narendra an 18th century sword from Bengal and a page from Mahatma Gandhi’s diary containing his handwritten notes. It is learnt that, the late 18th century sword that Putin gifted Prime Minister Modi belongs to Bengal province and features intricate silver artwork.

According to a report in TOI.com, it has been revealed by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in a reply to queries filed via RTI applications that Modi handles his own social media accounts.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Russia’s premier crisis management centre which deals with emergency situations and ensures coordination among various relevant agencies.

Modi was briefed about round-the-clock functioning of various wings of the agency.

The capabilities of the NCMC include state-of-art real time monitoring, data collection, analysis and modelling.

Affirming that their cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy is a cornerstone of the Russia-India strategic partnership, the two leaders appreciated the progress made in the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project and agreed to expedite the implementation of ongoing and upcoming projects there.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was designed by architects D I Burdin, V A Klimov, Yu R Rabayev and sculptor Nikolai Tomsky.