Russian President Vladimir Putin’s short visit to India was “highly productive and substantive” as he held “excellent discussions” with Prime Minister Narendra Modi,  Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said on Monday. “The fact that Putin decided to visit India for our annual summit is an indication of the importance he attaches to the bilateral relationship and his personal rapport with PM Narendra Modi,” Shringla said. Modi thanked Putin for the welfare of Indian community in Russia, especially during the COVID-19  pandemic, and both leaders discussed the need for mutual recognition of vaccine certification to enable easier travel by citizens to each other’s countries.

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“28 agreements/MoUs (memorandum of understanding) were concluded during this visit. These agreements include those between government to government and business to business,” Shringla said.

Earlier in the day, Putin described India as a great power, a friendly nation and a time-tested friend and echoed common concerns over terrorism, drug trafficking and organised crime as he held wide-ranging talks with Modi.

The summit talks took place hours after the foreign and defence ministers of the two countries held their inaugural ‘2+2’ dialogue with an aim to widen the ambit of discussions on strategically important issues.

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Putin flew to India on a short visit for the summit.

The day began with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Shoygu under the framework of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation.

Separately, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. Then the foreign and defence ministers of the two sides held the ‘2+2’ dialogue.

(With PTI inputs)