Putin, Modi to discuss sales of Russian fertilizers, food supplies at summit

Russian President Vladimir Putin and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi are set to met on Friday, 16 September, to discuss trade as well as sales of Russian fertilizers and mutual food supplies, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.

"There are plans to discuss issues of 'saturation' of the Indian market with Russian fertilizers and bilateral food supplies," it said in its handout of materials for the meeting.

The meeting will be held in Uzbekistan on the sidelines of a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a regional security bloc.

In August this year, India's National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval met his Russian counterpart Nikolai Patrushev in Moscow had held discussions on a wide range of bilateral and international issues.

India has refused to take sides on the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine since it started in February this year. Much to the contention of the West who have imposed several sanction on Russia as a result of the war, India abstained from UN votes on the Russian invasion. 

New Delhi has refused to publicly blame Moscow for the crisis, even while emphasising India’s traditional respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity. It has maintained India’s historically close ties to Moscow, increasing Russian oil imports and receiving Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on a diplomatic visit in April.

Meanwhile, the Moscow City Tourism Committee on Tuesday said that over 13,000 Indians visited Russia's capital city during the first half of 2022 and the footfall is expected to reach pre-Covid levels by 2023 end, despite the ongoing war in the region.

Moscow City Tourism Deputy Chairman of Committee Alina Arutyunova denied the ongoing war with Ukraine affecting the tourism in the country. She said "everything is smooth in spite of the war. In fact the traveller footfalls have increased."

Meanwhile, Ukrainian troops piled pressure on retreating Russian forces Tuesday, pressing a counteroffensive that has produced major gains and a stunning blow to Moscow's military prestige.

As the advance continued, Ukraine’s border guard services said the army took control of Vovchansk — a town just 3 kilometers (2 miles) from Russia seized on the first day of the war. Russia acknowledged that it has withdrawn troops from areas in the northeastern region of Kharkiv in recent days.