Putin invites Modi for Victory Day celebrations in May

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Victory Day celebrations in May next year as the two leaders had an "excellent meeting" here and discussed ways to further cement their special strategic partnership.

Modi, who is in Brazil for the 11th BRICS Summit which will focus on building mechanisms for counter-terrorism cooperation and strengthen India's ties with the world's five major economies, met Putin on the sidelines of the meeting and reviewed the full range of India-Russia relations.

During the bilateral meeting, Modi said that "frequent meetings have strengthened our relations".

"Our bilateral relations are growing. You have invited me to visit Russia in May for the Victory Day celebrations. I am happily waiting that I will get an opportunity to meet you once again," the Prime Minister said. Modi said that he "had an excellent meeting with President Putin".

"Had an excellent meeting with President Putin. During our talks, we reviewed the full range of India-Russia relations. India and Russia are cooperating extensively in areas such as trade, security and culture. The people of our nations will benefit due to close bilateral ties," he said on Twitter.

Modi also tweeted in Russian about the meeting.

Putin said that bilateral trade has registered a growth of 17 per cent.

"This our fourth meeting this year. I am so glad to have this high intensity of contacts. We have been implementing major bilateral projects and strengthening technical cooperation and our cultural exchanges are expanding," the Russian President said in the meeting.

The annual May 9 Victory Day parade in Moscow, where Russia shows off its military might, commemorates the May 1945 allied victory over Nazi Germany.

The two leaders are meeting over two months after holding extensive talks in Russia's far east Vladivostok city on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) during which they discussed ways to further cement the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between the two countries.

On September 5, Modi said the friendship between India and Russia was not restricted to governmental interactions in capital cities, but was about people and close business relations.

India had announced an "unprecedented" USD 1 billion line of credit for Russia's resource-rich Far East with Prime Minister Modi vowing to support President Putin's "stupendous efforts" to develop the extremely harsh region.

India and Russia signed 15 agreements/MoUs in areas such as defence, air, and maritime connectivity, energy, natural gas, petroleum and trade in September.