New Delhi, December 5 (ANI): After his ceremonial welcome and a tri-services guard of honour at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat in the national capital.
He laid a wreath, offered floral tributes at the memorial to the Father of the Nation and signed the visitors’ book. Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh accompanied him to the memorial.
Putin is on his first visit to India in four years. During the two-day state visit at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he will hold the 23rd India-Russia Annual Summit with PM Modi.
Earlier at Rashtrapati Bhavan, President Droupadi Murmu and PM Modi welcomed the Russian leader, who received a ceremonial tri-services guard of honour as the forecourt echoed with the Indian and Russian national anthems. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, Delhi LG V.K. Saxena, CDS General Anil Chauhan and other dignitaries attended. Russian Defence Minister Andrey Belousov and Kremlin aide Dmitry Peskov were among the Russian delegation.
Four years after their last in-person meeting on Indian soil, PM Modi and President Putin are set to hold bilateral talks in the capital. Putin arrived on Thursday; PM Modi met him on the tarmac and embraced him. The two leaders shared a car ride to the Prime Minister’s Lok Kalyan Marg residence, where Putin was presented with a copy of the Bhagavad Gita. (ANI)
