New Delhi, Dec 6 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold the 21st annual bilateral summit meeting here today, in their first face-to-face meeting in two years.

The two leaders last met on the side-lines of the BRICS Summit in Brasilia in November 2019. They have spoken on the phone six times since March 2020.

India and Russia will also hold the inaugural 2+2 dialogue between their defence and foreign affairs ministers today.

President Putin will fly down in the afternoon for the talks with PM Modi to be held at Hyderabad House.

The last India-Russia Annual Summit was held in September 2019 during the visit of Prime Minister Modi to Vladivostok (Russia). The Annual Summit could not take place in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic situation.

On Sunday night, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in the Indian capital. He is set to hold talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in the morning at the Sushma Swaraj Bhavan.

Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu on Monday met Defence Minister Rajnath Singh at the Sushma Swaraj Bhavan for talks.

The two sides will hold the 2+2 talks at around noon today, after which the bilateral summit will be held. A joint statement will be issued in the evening.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the Ministers will discuss key regional matters, including the situation in the Asia-Pacific Region and Central Asia, the situation in Afghanistan and Syria and the interaction on the floor of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and in the Russia – India – China format, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. Particular attention will be paid to strategic stability issues.

UNI