Prime Minister Narendra Modi with President of Russian Federation Vladimir Putin prior to their meeting at Hyderabad house in New Delhi on Monday.
| Photo Credit: V V Krishnan

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will pay a two-day visit to Russia from July 8 to 9 to hold the 22nd India-Russia annual summit that will review the entire range of multifaceted ties between the two countries.

After concluding his trip to Russia, Mr. Modi will travel to Austria, which will be the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister to that country in 41 years, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.

It will be Mr. Modi’s first trip to Russia in nearly five years. His last visit to Russia was in 2019 when he attended an economic conclave in the Far East city of Vladivostok.

The annual summit between the Prime Minister of India and the President of Russia is the highest institutional dialogue mechanism in the strategic partnership between the two countries.

So far, 21 annual summits have taken place alternately in India and Russia.

The last summit was held on December 6, 2021 in New Delhi. President Vladimir Putin had visited India to attend the summit.

The summit saw both sides sealing 28 MoUs and agreements besides coming out with a joint statement titled “India-Russia Partnership for Peace, Progress and Prosperity”.

Mr. Modi and Mr. Putin last held bilateral talks on the margins of a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) at Samarkand in Uzbekistan on September 16, 2022.

In the meeting, Mr. Modi had famously pressed Mr. Putin to end the conflict in Ukraine saying “today’s era is not of war”.

“I know today’s era is not of war. We discussed this issue on phone several times that democracy, diplomacy and dialogue touch the entire world,” Mr. Modi had said.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Mr. Modi has held several telephonic conversations with Mr. Putin and Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

In reflection of its strong friendship with Russia, India has not yet condemned Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and it has been maintaining that the crisis must be resolved through diplomacy and dialogue.

India’s import of Russian crude oil has also gone up significantly notwithstanding the G7 price cap and increasing disquiet over the procurement in many Western countries.

In December 2022, the G7 grouping and its allies announced a cap on the price of Russian oil as part of a series of punitive measures against Moscow in view of its invasion of Ukraine. The price cap restricts countries to pay more than $60 a barrel.

From Russia, Mr. Modi will travel to Austria. He will be in Austria on July 9 and 10.

“This will be the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Austria in 41 years. He will call on President of the Republic of Austria Alexander Van der Bellen and hold talks with Chancellor of Austria Karl Nehammer,” the MEA said.

“The Prime Minister and Chancellor will also address business leaders from India and Austria,” it said in a statement.

Mr. Modi will also interact with members of the Indian community in Moscow as well as in Vienna, the MEA said.

A file photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
| Photo Credit: ANI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Moscow for a standalone State visit from July 8 to 9 to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin that is expected to focus on strategic, economic and military ties, will reverse the perception of a “drift” in relations, said experts.

The Modi-Putin talks are expected to focus on the rise in India-Russia trade due to India’s import of oil, smoothening out payment issues arising from Western sanctions, build on previous conversations on the Chennai-Vladivostok maritime route, and conclude the Reciprocal Exchange of Logistics Agreement (RELOS) agreement, that will pave the way for more defence exchanges.

Also read: Russia approves draft logistics agreement to be signed with India

Mr. Modi’s trip to Moscow is his first visit since 2015, and marks a return to the decades-old annual India-Russia summit format. He had met Mr. Putin in St. Petersburg in 2017, Sochi in 2018, Vladivostok in 2019 apart from Mr. Putin’s visits to India in 2016, 2018 and 2021. The two leaders met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Uzbekistan in 2022, but have not held the annual bilateral summit for the last three years.

“The break in regular summitry — initially due to Covid, and a rapidly changing international situation — make it imperative that both sides reverse the perception in the international community of a drift in bilateral relations,” said former Ambassador to Moscow Venkatesh Verma. “Hence, the visit is timely, but also overdue to recharge the wellsprings of the strategic partnership,” he told The Hindu.

Sources said the final details of Mr. Modi’s programme is still being finalised, and advance MEA and security teams are in Moscow to make arrangements for the visit, which has yet to be formally announced.

The PM’s trip, which is likely to be his first bilateral visit abroad in his third term, would place Russia on par with India’s closest neighbours that have normally been the destination of first visits by Indian Prime Ministers. The visit will also be a signal to Western countries including the U.S. and Europe that Mr. Modi intends to continue to “balance” India’s ties, two years since the Russia-Ukraine conflict began.

While the government has not announced any plans for Mr. Modi to visit Kyiv on this visit, he will travel to Vienna between July 9 and 10. Meanwhile, by travelling to Moscow next week for a bilateral visit, Mr. Modi might also indicate that he is not as keen to pursue India’s position at multilateral summits, particularly given China’s presence. This week, he has deputed External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar to attend the SCO summit in Kazakhstan, and it remains to be seen whether Mr. Modi will now return to Russia for the BRICS summit in October.

Experts also said that Mr. Modi’s visit will allow him to get a “first-hand account” of how Russia’s war in Ukraine is proceeding, and also discuss thorny issues like the recruitment of Indians to work as Russian military “helpers” that India has opposed, as well as to speed up the supply of defence hardware and spares that have been delayed due to the war.

“The visit will go a long way in removing some of the apprehensions about waning political ties between the two countries, and allow the leaders to resolve pending issues,” said scholar and distinguished fellow at ORF Nandan Unnikrishnan, who travelled to Moscow last week for the “Primakov Readings International Forum” where Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had said Mr. Modi’s visit “perfectly fits” into Russia’s strategic foreign policy line.

Mr. Lavrov said that India, like China had made a “choice” to deal with Russia in national currencies, adding that about 60% of India-Russia trade is now settled in them, despite the fact that both China and India are engaged economically with western countries that have sanctioned Russia. “They are fully aware of the discriminatory nature of what the West is doing,” Mr. Lavrov added.

On the bilateral front, officials said that India and Russia are discussing increased investments in the Chennai-Vladivostok maritime corridor and in Siberia, while India wants to source minerals from Russia. Issues that need to be sorted include insurance, and negotiating with ports in between for transit, a source said, adding that there may be some issues with ports in China. The maritime route presents a more effective option than the International North–South Transport Corridor (INSTC) or other options, the source added.

(With inputs from Dinakar Peri)