BEIJING, July 8. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are expected to spend their time together in Moscow talking trade, economic and international issues, namely energy cooperation between the two countries and the Ukrainian crisis, Shyam Saran, president of the India International Center (IIC) non-governmental organization and former Foreign Secretary of India (2004-2006), told a TASS correspondent in Beijing.
The meeting between Putin and Modi "would be a very important opportunity for them to really give a certain momentum to our long-standing cooperation and also to exchange views on the international situation," Saran told TASS on the sidelines of the World Peace Forum at Beijing's Tsinghua University. He added that Modi may try to get a "sense from President Putin about what is the current situation with regard to the Ukraine war and the situation with respect to Europe." Additionally, "Russia has now emerged as one of the most important sources of energy supplies for India," so the leaders may discuss further steps in this direction, the expert continued.
According to Saran, Putin and Modi may also touch upon the situation in the Middle East and Asia: "we would like to certainly have a sense of how President Putin sees the relationship with China developing."
"I think it is very important that the two leaders, who have such a longstanding relationship, resume their high-level dialogue and see how we can really energize the relationship," the expert concluded.
Staying in touch
Modi will pay an official visit to Russia on July 8-9. The leaders last met at the SCO summit in Samarkand in 2022. Modi's visit to Russia will be his first trip after assuming office as prime minister for the third time. The last time the Indian head of government was in Russia was in 2019 when he visited Vladivostok. Modi last traveled to Moscow in 2015.
Putin and Modi have stayed in regular contact. Their first face-to-face meeting took place in July 2014 in Brazil at the 6th BRICS summit. Thereafter, the leaders have met on the sidelines of events of various international organizations and held telephone conversations on numerous occasions. Putin has visited India nine times as Russia's head of state.