High-level meetings in New Delhi, Moscow set stage for Putin's visit

New Delhi: India and Russia on Monday held two high-level meetings in New Delhi and Moscow to further the agenda of the strategic partnership for the 23rd annual summit to be held here in December first week here.

While Russian President Vladimir Putin's top aide and Chairman of the Maritime Board of Russia and also former NSA, Nikolai Patrushev, met National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and National Maritime Security Coordinator Vice Admiral Biswajit Dasgupta here on Monday, external affairs minister S Jaishankar met his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow.

Patrushev and Doval discussed issues, including maritime cooperation as India and Russia are keen to expand maritime sector cooperation, ET has learnt. "A number of agreements, initiatives and projects are under discussion. We look forward to their finalisation in the coming days. These will certainly add more substance and texture to our...partnership," Jaishankar told Lavrov.