1.4 billion Indians are ‘eagerly waiting’ for Putin’s visit – Modi

The Indian and Russian leaders have held talks on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Tianjin

The people of India, the most populous country in the world, are “eagerly waiting” for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India later this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Putin on Monday.

He is set to travel to India for an annual bilateral summit with Modi in December.

The two leaders stressed that the strategic partnership between their nations is expanding across various sectors, including energy trade.

”This year in December, for our 23rd summit, 1.4 billion Indians are eagerly waiting for you,” Modi told Putin. 

Modi added that Russia and India have walked “shoulder-to-shoulder” in the “most difficult of situations.” 

Before the bilateral talks with delegations, Putin and Modi reportedly spent about an hour of one-on-one conversation in the Russian leader’s Aurus vehicle. “They communicated both in the car while driving and then continued their discussion inside the car,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told TASS.

This is the first meeting between Putin and Modi this year, though they regularly speak by phone.

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