PM Narendra Modi's new age diplomacy: another informal summit now with Russia

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has discovered a new form of diplomatic engagement — the informal summit — to cover bases and promote India's strategic interests. Official sources here said that more such summits would be lined up over next the few months, till he gets busy with electioneering ahead of 2019 general elections.

Unlike in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where Modi spent two days to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping six times, by taking lake walks and boat rides, his upcoming meeting on Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Suchi is heavily loaded. He will leave Delhi early morning and return the same evening.

According to sources, a large part of the informal meeting is one-to-one and a restricted delegation-level meeting is likely. "Most part of the five-hour engagement is one-to-one. Both the leaders will also exchange views on their domestic priorities. During the summit, the Indo-Russian cooperation in Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and association of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) is likely to come up as well," the sources said. The informal interaction has no specific agenda and is very flexible. No regular protocol will be practiced. President Putin will also host lunch for Modi.

This will be the first meeting between Putin and Modi this year, however, since the beginning of the year, the two leaders have had several phone conversations.

This comes barely a month after when Prime Minister Modi attended a two-day informal summit along with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Wuhan city

The summit will also provide opportunity for both sides to arrest the downslide in their relations. In Afghanistan, where India and Russia had long seen eye-to-eye, interests have begun to diverge. Russia, since its proxy war in Syria, now senses a greater and growing threat from ISIS' presence in Afghanistan than from the Afghan Taliban. It favours a strategy focussed on countering ISIS and has been seeking peace with the Afghan Taliban. National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval visited Moscow in April, and again in May with Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale, to discuss US sanctions on Russian defence firms, Afghanistan, the Chabahar Port, and the INSTC, among other common issues. Modi will go to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in June in Qingdao, China, and meet with Chinese and Russian leaders there in a more formal, if multilateral, setting.

Over some time now, Russia has been interested in accommodating Indians in its resource-rich Russia Far Eastern Region to balance with the growing Chinese presence. Sources here said that Moscow is offering visa free travel to Indian citizens to this region. Russia is also offering lots of tax sops and incentives to attract Indian investors in Far East.