Putin’s aide Patrushev calls on Modi

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s top aide and Chairman of the Maritime Board of Russia, Nikolai Patrushev, on Tuesday called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Russian embassy in New Delhi said the two sides discussed various issues of Russian-Indian cooperation, particularly in the maritime sector. “Emphasised their mutual interest in deepening interaction between Russia and India to strengthen their maritime capabilities, the embassy said in post on social media app ‘Telegram’.

Patrushev also discussed the key points for the Russia-India summit, scheduled for early December, the Russian embassy said.

Yesterday, Patrushev met National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval and National Maritime Security Coordinator Vice Admiral Biswajit Dasgupta (retd) in New Delhi.

Patrushev's visit comes just weeks ahead of Putin’s expected visit to India to meet Modi for the annual leader’s summit. Putin and Modi are expected to discuss multiple issues of trade, crude oil supplies and military equipment deliveries. Putin had earlier instructed his government to examine proposals for expanding trade and economic ties with India, including addressing challenges related to logistics, payments, and the rising trade imbalance.

Last month, the India-Russia commission tasked for monitoring military cooperation met in New Delhi and discussed means to strengthen existing bilateral cooperation. Discussions had focused on strengthening ongoing defence engagements between the two sides and mulled on new initiatives under the ambit of the existing bilateral cooperation mechanism.