Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin’s planned visit to India next week at the head of a large Russian delegation that will include several governors from Russia’s Far East provinces is expected to offer new impetus to the time-honored ties between Moscow and New Delhi.
The Russian PM’s visit for the coming Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit (VGGS) from January 10 to 12 in Gandhinagar — that is expected to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi — will come about a month after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s brief but successful visit to New Delhi on December 6 for the annual bilateral summit that took place between the both countries.
India is expected to rise its economic engagement with Russia’s Far East region, and the Gujarat summit will play a key role in that effort. There have been discussions between the two countries about improving trade, connectivity, and energy cooperation in the form of importing crude oil and petrochemicals.
Economic cooperation in the Russian Far East, as well as connectivity projects such as the Chennai-Vladivostok maritime corridor, have been discussed.
During President Putin’s visit to Delhi last month, both nations had decided to strengthen the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership and had signed 28 pacts in defence, trade, energy, culture, space and other fields.
The crucial S-400 missile supplies from Russia to India have already begun. Four defence pacts had been inked between India and Russia, including one for manufacture of over six lakh AK-203 assault rifles at Amethi, UP, and an agreement on programme for military technical cooperation from 2021-2031
New Delhi is hoping that the worldwide Omicron scare does not deter people from attending the Gandhinagar meeting, which could see more heads of state and government attend despite the Omicron scare. It’s also unclear whether the Omicron scare will have an impact on New Delhi’s Republic Day celebrations later this month. The heads of five Central Asian republics — Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan — have already been invited to be the chief guests at the Republic Day parade, but New Delhi has yet to confirm their attendance.