PM Modi warmly welcomes Putin at Delhi airport; hosts private dinner

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday warmly welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin as he kick-started a nearly 27-hour visit to India to further shore up an eight-decade bilateral partnership that remained in firm footing notwithstanding fractious geopolitical upheavals.

In reflection of the importance India attached to the Russian leader's first visit to India in four years, Modi received him at New Delhi's Palam airport with a hug amid a group of artistes performing traditional dances.

From the airport, the two leaders travelled to Modi's official residence in his car, nearly three months after the prime minister rode with Putin in the Russian leader's vehicle in Chinese city of Tianjin during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit.

"Delighted to welcome my friend, President Putin to India. Looking forward to our interactions later this evening and tomorrow. India-Russia friendship is a time-tested one that has greatly benefited our people," the prime minister said on social media.

In the evening, Modi hosted a private dinner for the Russian president in a reciprocal gesture to the hospitality extended to the prime minister by Putin during his visit to Moscow in July last year. Modi's official residence was decorated with bright lights and flowers on the occasion.

The conversation between the two leaders over the dinner is expected to set the tone for the 23rd India-Russia summit talks on Friday that is expected to produce a number of tangible outcomes to further broad-base the time-tested relationship.