Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit India on December 6 for summit talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, announced the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) .

In an official statement, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi confirmed that Putin will pay an official visit to New Delhi for the 21st India-Russia Annual Summit.

The Modi-Putin summit is expected to produce specific outcomes in further expanding ties in areas of defence, trade and energy.

It is learnt that the two sides are going to firm up a number of agreements in the areas of defence, trade and investment, and science and technology at the summit.

Both the countries have a mechanism under which India’s PM and the Russian president hold a summit meeting annually to review the entire gamut of ties.

The summit was postponed last year because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Bagchi also announced that the first meeting of the 2+2 dialogue between India and Russia will be held on December 6.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Foreign Minister Dr S Jaishankar will represent the Indian side while Russia will be represented by its Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu.

Meanwhile, the Russian Embassy announced that its Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu will visit India to hold the inaugural ‘2+2’ ministerial dialogue between two countries on December 6.

The ministers are expected to hold in-depth discussions of the key regional and international topics, including the situation in the Asia-Pacific region and developments in Afghanistan and Syria, as well as exchange views on interaction within the SCO and Russia, India and China (RIC), said the Russian embassy.