PM Modi, Putin likely to meet this week on sidelines of SCO Summit

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet on the sidelines of the SCO Summit in Uzbekistan this week and discuss issues of strategic stability, the situation in the Asia Pacific region and bilateral cooperation within the UN and G20, the Kremlin has announced. However, Ministry of External Affairs has not yet confirmed the meeting between both leaders.

Putin and Modi will attend the 22nd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in the Uzbek city of Samarkand on September 15-16.

"A conversation on the international agenda with Modi will also take place, the sides will discuss issues of strategic stability, the situation in the Asia Pacific Region, and, of course, cooperation within major multilateral formats, such as the UN, the G20 and the SCO," the official Russian news agency TASS quoted Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov as saying.

"This is particularly important, because India will preside in the UN Security Council in December, and, in 2023, India will lead the SCO and will also chair the G20," Ushakov told reporters on Tuesday.

The Prime Minister is likely to hold a few bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the SCO Summit, the MEA said on Sunday while announcing the visit of Prime Minister Modi.

On July 1, the two leaders spoke to each other and reviewed the implementation of the decisions taken during President Putin's visit to India in December 2021.

Modi and Putin talked over phone on February 24 after Russia attacked Ukraine.

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