Russian President Vladimir Putin will
arrive in India on Monday for his only second overseas trip since the pandemic.
Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will focus on terrorism as a common
threat to both countries and the region. Putin will also look to strengthen
military and energy ties with India.

According to The Indian Express, Russia and
India have worked “very closely” on the issue of threats of terrorism,
terrorist financing and the flow of arms and drugs trade, and that these issues
are expected to be reflected in the joint statement after the meeting between
Putin and Modi. The two world leaders could also discuss issues related to
BRICS and SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation).

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Apart from the Putin-Modi meeting, the foreign and defence ministers of both countries will also hold meetings on
Monday. These meetings will be held before the Modi-Putin meeting. So far,
India held such high-level meetings with only Quad members: US, Japan and
Australia.

Officials said that at the recent Russia,
India and China (RIC) meeting, India had negotiated hard on including
references to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). While there is no mention
of any terrorist entities like Lashkar-e-Taiba or the Jaish-e-Mohammed, or any
other group, including the ETIM (East Turkestan Islamic Movement), a top
government source, “In the last 10-15 years of RIC statements, terrorist
entities have not been mentioned in the RIC joint document.”

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Ahead of Putin’s India visit, the Centre
has cleared the long-pending AK-203 Kalashnikov rifles deal worth nearly Rs
5,000 crore for the production of over 5 lakh rifles at Korwa in Amethi by an
Indo-Russian joint venture. The two sides are also negotiating to wrap up the
final phase of negotiations for a logistics support agreement, which is likely
to be signed either during the ministerial level talks or at the summit.