President Vladimir Putin, during the India-Russia Annual Summit Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Hyderabad House on Monday, said that the two country’s share several common concerns. 

Calling India a time-tested friend, Putin said that Moscow perceives New Delhi as a great power. 

“Happy to be able to travel to India. Unfortunately, we had to skip last year owing to the pandemic. The relations between our nations are growing and I am looking into the future,” the Russian President said. 

India and Russia are expected to ink a raft of pacts to further boost cooperation in key areas of defence, trade and investment, energy and technology at the summit, government sources said, as per PTI reports. 

In the summit as well as in the inaugural ‘2+2’ defence and foreign ministerial talks, the two sides are also expected to focus on the situation in Afghanistan and the rising threat of terrorism including from groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed.

“We continue to co-operate in global agenda and our views are quite similar. Terrorism, drug trafficking and organised crime are a concern. Situation in Afghanistan a common concern,” Putin added in his opening statement. 

“Despite the challenges posed by COVID-19, there is no change in the pace of growth of India-Russia relations. Our special and privileged strategic partnership continues to become stronger,” PM Modi said in his opening statement. He described Russia as a key strategic partner. 

Earlier in the day India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held talks with his Russian counterpart Shoygu under the framework of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar spoke to Russia’s Lavrov. 

The last India-Russia Annual Summit was held in September 2019 during the visit of Modi to Vladivostok. The annual summit could not take place last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.