Published: February 3, 2025 4:20 pm
Author: RT
State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin is visiting New Delhi to discuss parliamentary cooperation and strategic partnership
Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin has arrived in India for an official visit, delivering a message from President Vladimir Putin to Indian President Droupadi Murmu. During top-level meetings in New Delhi, officials from both sides highlighted the strength of the ties between the two nations, and called for greater cooperation.
“Strengthening engagement with India is one of our key foreign policy priorities,” the State Duma speaker said, speaking on behalf of the Russian leader. Putin is expected to visit India later this year for a summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The dates of the visit have not yet been publicly announced.
Volodin said Russian-Indian relations are built on friendship, trust, and mutual respect. He also thanked India’s leadership for its support amid the current geopolitical situation. “Russia and India share a particularly privileged strategic partnership. This has been largely facilitated by contacts between the leadership of both countries,” he stated.
The State Duma speaker, who was invited by Om Birla, the speaker of the lower house of the Indian parliament, held meetings with MPs from both houses and stressed the important of the parliaments in expanding relations between the two countries.
Indian President Meets Russian Delegation in Delhi – Volodin Relays Greetings & Best Wishes from Putin
The State Duma chief reiterated that strengthening ties with Inida is one Russia’s top priorities, after productive talks on inter-parliamentary dialogue. pic.twitter.com/0slDc8XbC6
— RT_India (@RT_India_news) February 3, 2025
During his discussions with Birla, Volodin stated that dialogue between Russia and India is based on mutual respect, trust, and non-interference in each other’s affairs. “Trade turnover is growing, our humanitarian ties are getting stronger, but we must not stop there, we must try to create a legislative basis within the parliamentary dimension so that relations develop even more dynamically,” he was quoted as saying in a statement by the Russian Embassy in India.
Welcoming the Russian delegation, Murmu said these exchanges enhance cooperation, highlighting the positive impact of regular contact between top officials and leaders.
Modi invited the Russian leader to visit his country for their next bilateral meeting during last year’s BRICS summit in Kazan. The practice of holding annual summits was established in 2000, when they signed a declaration on strategic partnership. A decade later, the relationship was elevated to the level of ‘special and privileged strategic partnership’.
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The Russian president last visited India in December 2021. The most recent summit was in Moscow in July last year. Modi visited Russia for a second time in October to take part in the BRICS summit in Kazan. During the visit, Modi highlighted Russia’s contributions to promoting multilateralism, sustainable development, and global governance reforms. The two leaders also discussed and reviewed their countries’ cooperation in key areas such as politics, the economy, defense, energy, and people-to-people exchanges.
