Looking forward to Vajpayee's visit: Putin

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW, JUNE 6. The External Affairs Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh, wound up his three- day visit to Moscow today with what was described as a very warm and productive meeting with the Russian President, Mr. Vladimir Putin.

The Russian leader expressed great satisfaction with the practical results achieved during Mr. Singh's visit and implementation of earlier agreements, Indian delegation sources said. Mr. Singh was in Moscow for the first meeting of the Indo- Russian Inter-governmental Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation, which he co-chairs with the Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Ilya Klebanov.

Mr. Singh handed over to the Russian President a letter from the Prime Minister, Mr. A.B.Vajpayee, which was apparently a reply to Mr. Putin's letter to the taken to Delhi by the Russian Foreign Minister, Mr. Igor Ivanov, last month.

Mr. Putin said he was looking forward to the visit of Mr. Vajpayee to Russia in early November. He described the forthcoming visit as another very important event in our bilateral relations. The Russian President described Mr. Jaswant Singh as a friend of Russia and said he was happy Mr. Singh had met the entire spectrum of Russian leadership.

Mr. Putin reiterated Russia's long-standing position on Kashmir, which is fully consonant with India's stand. Mr. Singh set out India's views on strategic stability, which Mr. Putin said he was very glad to hear. Mr. Singh also apprised Mr. Putin of decisions taken at the IGC on defence regarding the supply of spareparts, which were described as very important.

Mr. Putin expressed gratitude to the Government of India for the supply of medicines to victims of recent floods in Siberia.

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Section  : International
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