{"id":41483,"date":"2024-07-10T03:02:08","date_gmt":"2024-07-09T21:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=41483"},"modified":"2025-10-13T13:13:59","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T07:43:59","slug":"indian-pms-two-day-visit-to-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/indian-pms-two-day-visit-to-russia\/","title":{"rendered":"Highlights of the Indian PM\u2019s Two-Day Visit to Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Why in News?<\/li>\n<li>Highlights of the Indian PM\u2019s Two-Day Visit to Russia<\/li>\n<li>A Joint Vision Statement on Trade and Economic Cooperation<\/li>\n<li>Conclusion of the Indian PM\u2019s Two-Day Visit to Russia<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Why in News?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Indian PM departed for Austria after concluding a two-day high-profile visit to Russia, where he attended the 22nd India-Russia annual summit with President Vladimir Putin.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Highlights of the Indian PM\u2019s Two-Day Visit to Russia:<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Receives highest civilian honour: <\/strong>The Indian PM was conferred with Russia\u2019s highest civilian honour &#8211; <strong>Order of St Andrew the Apostle<\/strong> &#8211; by the Russian President (announced in 2019, but presented now).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Bilateral talks &#8211; A meeting of two close friends and trusted partners:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>It was held to review ties between the two nations, including in areas like <strong>defence, investment, energy cooperation, education and culture.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>During the meeting, the Indian PM told the Russian President that <strong>a solution to the Ukraine conflict is not possible on the battlefield<\/strong> and peace talks do not succeed amidst bombs, guns and bullets.<\/li>\n<li>The Russian President accepted a direct request from the Indian PM to <strong>expedite the discharge of all Indians<\/strong> who have been recruited by the Russian military, many of whom are now at the war front.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Interactions with Indian community in Moscow:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The Indian PM shared his thoughts on India\u2019s rising global profile and its perception as a \u2018Vishwa Bandhu\u2019.<\/li>\n<li>During the address,\n<ul>\n<li>He applauded the Indian community for their contribution in taking India &#8211; Russia relations to new heights.<\/li>\n<li>He announced the opening of Indian Consulates in <strong>Kazan and Yekaterinburg.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Other highlights: <\/strong>At the Rosatom Pavilion, the Indian PM saw the &#8220;<strong>Atomic Symphony<\/strong>&#8221; &#8211; a model of the VVER-1000 reactor used in India\u2019s Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>A Joint Vision Statement on Trade and Economic Cooperation:<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>A shift from previous Summits: <\/strong>The focus on economic issues was a shift from previous Annual Summits where military supplies and the defence and strategic partnership between the two countries had been at the top of the agenda.<\/li>\n<li><strong>9 issues that need to be resolved by 2030: <\/strong>It includes &#8211;\n<ul>\n<li>The elimination of non-tariff barriers,<\/li>\n<li>The development of a <strong>bilateral settlement system using national currencies<\/strong>,<\/li>\n<li>Ironing out customs procedures and using new connectivity routes, including &#8211;\n<ul>\n<li>The Chennai-Vladivostok maritime route,<\/li>\n<li>The Northern Sea Route and<\/li>\n<li>The International North\u2013South Transport Corridor via Iran.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Investments in the energy sector including nuclear energy,<\/li>\n<li>Infrastructure development and<\/li>\n<li>Investment promotion as priority areas.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>India and Russia signed a number of MoUs<\/strong> between institutions on climate change, polar research, legal arbitration, pharmaceutical certification, etc.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ambitious bilateral trade target:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>India and Russia agreed to increase bilateral trade to <strong>$100 billion dollars by 2030<\/strong>, including the use of national currencies to circumvent Western sanctions.<\/li>\n<li>The bilateral trade reached an all-time high of <strong>$65.70 billion in FY 2023-24<\/strong>, mostly because of the surge in India\u2019s imports of Russian crude.<\/li>\n<li>Achieving the target would take the business relationship to levels of trade India currently has only with bigger economies like the <strong>U.S., China and the EU.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Conclusion of the Indian PM\u2019s Two-Day Visit to Russia:<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Invited to the first \u201cExtended BRICS\u201d summit:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The Russian leader invited the Indian PM to return to the city of Kazan where he will host the first Extended <a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/brics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">BRICS summit<\/a> (in October 2024).<\/li>\n<li>This will include five new members to the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa grouping of emerging economies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Indian PM departs for Austria<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li>This visit to Vienna will be the <strong>first visit by an Indian PM in over four decades<\/strong>. In 1983, Indira Gandhi was the last PM to visit the country.<\/li>\n<li>The one-day official visit comes as both countries mark <strong>75 years of their diplomatic relationship.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Q.1. What is the VVER-1000 reactor?<\/h2>\n<p>The VVER-1000 is a 3000 MW thermal power nuclear power plant (NPP) which is cooled and moderated by light water. The Kudankulam NPP is scheduled to have six VVER-1000 reactors built in collaboration with the Russian Atomstroyexport and the NPCIL.<\/p>\n<h2>Q.2. What is the extended BRICS organisation?<\/h2>\n<p>After 13 years without expansion, at its 15th summit held in Johannesburg on 22-24 August 2023, BRICS welcomed four new members into its ranks \u2013 Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates \u2013 and is now informally called BRICS+.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 22nd India-Russia annual summit held to review ties between the two nations was concluded recently<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":41484,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-41483","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}