Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to each other on the phone on Monday and agreed to quickly implement agreements that were flagged during Putin’s visit to New Delhi on December 6.
A Kremlin readout of the conversation said that the “practical issues” relating to the implementing the agreements arrived during the President’s visit to India were discussed. The two-leaders also exchanged views on the issues of international stability and security, including the situation in the Asia-Pacific region. The duo agreed to intensify bilateral contacts in various areas.
As reported by India Narrative earlier citing highly placed sources, the call was intended to build on the substantial discussions between the two leaders that were held in the ornate Hyderabad House in the Indian capital on December 6.
Separately, Putin is also dispatching Russia's Deputy Prime Minister, Yury Borisov, to India next week. The sources said that Borisov will mainly follow-up, and begin working out the details on the two-major military agreements that New Delhi and Moscow have signed – one on the production of AK-203 rifles at a plant in Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, and a framework ten-year plan on military-technical cooperation.
Besides, the delivery of assemblies of the exceptionally potent S-400 air defence missile systems have already begun, and the two regiments are expected to become fully operational early next year. The supplies of the S-400 are critical for restoring the balance of power with China. China has deployed its S-400 missiles in Ngari Gar Gunsa opposite ladakh and Nyingchi air base facing Arunachal Pradesh.
Meanwhile, Russia's Tass news agency is reporting that Moscow is pushing for a summit between Russia, India and China. In fact, Putin raised this topic during his conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping earlier this week, the news agency said quoting Russian Presidential Aide, Yury Ushakov.
"The topic of cooperation in the Russia-India-China format was addressed," during the Putin-Xi videoconference, the Kremlin's spokesperson said. The leaders "agreed to continue exchanging opinions in this regard and to endeavour to hold the next summit within the RIC framework in the near future," Ushakov observed.
"Putin informed Xi Jinping about the visit to New Delhi on December 6 in this context," the Kremlin's spokesperson observed.
The RIC leaders held their last meeting in June 2019 on the side-lines of the G20 summit in Osaka.
In New Delhi, sources pointed out that it would be impossible to hold such a RIC summit unless the border tensions between India and China are resolved with the restoration of status quo ante that existed before May 2020, ahead of Chinese incursions in eastern Ladakh.
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