New Delhi — After his ceremonial reception at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Rajghat to pay tribute to Mahatma Gandhi. Accompanied by Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh, he laid a wreath, offered floral tributes at the memorial and signed the visitors’ book.
Putin is on his first trip to India in four years for a two-day state visit at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. During the visit he is scheduled to hold the 23rd India-Russia Annual Summit with PM Modi.
Earlier at Rashtrapati Bhavan, President Droupadi Murmu and PM Modi received the Russian leader with a ceremonial tri-service guard of honour as the forecourt resounded with the Indian and Russian national anthems. Several dignitaries were present, including External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, Delhi Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena, Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan, and members of the Russian delegation such as Defence Minister Andrey Belousov and Kremlin aide Dmitry Peskov.
This meeting marks the first in-person bilateral encounter between PM Modi and President Putin on Indian soil in four years. Putin arrived on Thursday; PM Modi welcomed him on the tarmac with an embrace and they later shared a car ride to the Prime Minister’s Lok Kalyan Marg residence, where Putin was presented with a copy of the Bhagavad Gita.
