New Delhi: Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives here early today for an over 15-hour visit for the annual India-Russia bilateral summit that will see both sides ink multi-billion dollar defence pacts.
Putin, who touches down past midnight, will hold delegation level talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at 11.30 am at Hyderabad House, after which the two sides will ink the agreements.
The Russian president is to call on President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan in the afternoon. Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj are to call on Putin at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Putin will leave for home at 4.30 pm. Putin, who entered the Kremlin as president in May, last visited India as prime minister in 2010. Ahead of the visit, the Kremlin said Putin will discuss “concrete steps to further develop strategic partnership” in trade, investment, military and energy policy.
Defence deals worth $7bn could prove to be the show-stealer. The highlight will be a contract, worth around $4bn, to buy additional Sukhoi 30 MKI fighters equipped with the Brahmos cruise missiles, an Indo-Russian joint venture.
India has already signed a pact for delivery of 80 Mi-17 V5 helicopters, of which 42 had already been inducted since February this year. Despite India diversifying its imports, Russia still accounts for over 60 percent of the country’s military hardware. On the trade front, the two sides are expected to reiterate the target for scaling up bilateral trade to $20bn.With differences festering over application of India’s civil nuclear liability law to units III and IV of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant (KNPP), the proposed power plants to be built by Russia, a pact on these units is unlikely to be signed after the summit talks.
“I don’t think the agreement on units III and IV will be signed because we are still negotiating it but there will be more than a dozen documents which would be concluded covering the entire gamut of relations, including military cooperation,” Russian ambassador to India Alexander Kadakin told reporters here on Friday.
However, in the one-one-one talks between Manmohan Singh and Putin, there may be an informal understanding on the revised price of these reactors that could pave the way for the signing of the deal later, said reliable sources.
With Russian President arriving here for a day-long visit, the civic agencies are planning to clean up the area around India Gate - the site of a mass protest and violence against a gang-rape.
President Putin is likely to visit India Gate Monday, a source said.
“We will clear away the stones and glass and paper lying on the roads early Monday morning,” New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) spokesperson Amit Prasad said. The work will be done along with workers of the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) as the area around Amar Jawan Jyoti falls under CPWD, he said.IANS
