"India to celebrate 70 years of Indo-Russian relations," says Lok Sabha Speaker

"India is planning a number of events to celebrate the 70th year of establishment of relations with Russia," Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said on Saturday.

She stated this during a meeting with Chairman of the Russian State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin in St Petersburg, according to a statement issued by the Lok Sabha secretariat.

Mahajan met Volodin on the margins of the 137th Session of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) which is underway in St. Petersburg.

The Speaker said that as part of the celebrations, a Raisina Dialogue is planned during the forthcoming visit of the Russian Parliamentary delegation to India where the Chairpersons of the Culture and Science Committees of the Russian Parliament have been invited.

Volodin thanked her for the plans afoot for the visit of the Russian Parliamentary delegation and agreed to soon decide the dates of the visit by mutual consultation, the statement said.

The two sides agreed that the recent visits of the Heads of Governments followed by the interactions between the Speakers of the two countries auger well for the further strengthening of the already-strong and enduring relationship between the two countries, the statement said.

Both sides confirmed having constituted their respective Parliamentary Friendship Groups.

Mahajan informed Volodin that actress Hema Malini, a Member of the Lok Sabha and a popular celebrity in Russia, is a member of the Parliamentary 

Friendship Group of India for Russia, the statement said.