NEW DELHI: As Russian President Vladimir Putin prepares to go to India for a much-anticipated assembly with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, previous pictures of the 2 leaders have resurfaced on-line.The pictures, taken in Moscow in 2001, present Modi — then the Chief Minister of Gujarat — accompanying then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee throughout an official go to. The visuals, captured throughout a document-signing ceremony, had first gone viral final 12 months when Modi travelled to Russia, and have reappeared on social media forward of Putin’s India go to.
Modi had later recalled how Putin acquired him warmly regardless of his state-level place, participating in candid discussions on states, hobbies, and international affairs. Through the 2001 journey, he signed a protocol settlement between Gujarat and Russia’s Astrakhan area to spice up cooperation in petrochemicals, hydrocarbons, commerce, science and expertise, schooling, tourism, and tradition. He additionally visited Moscow’s ISKCON temple to supply prayers on Vajpayee’s behalf because of the latter’s well being situation, spending appreciable time with devotees. The go to marked Modi’s first worldwide engagement as chief minister and his early diplomatic interplay with Putin.Modi returned to Astrakhan in 2006 to increase the pact for one more 5 years with Governor Alexander Zhilkin, strengthening Gujarat–Russia ties in power and commerce. These subnational initiatives later fed into wider bilateral cooperation in defence, power, and commerce throughout Modi’s tenure as Prime Minister. Modi has usually reminisced in regards to the 2001 assembly, together with receiving a framed {photograph} from the ISKCON go to as a shock present throughout his 2024 interplay in Moscow.