New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended warm red carpet welcome to the Russian President Vladimir Putin at Palam airport on Thursday evening at 6.35 pm.

President Putin landed at Palam airport in a special flight. Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived at airport to receive President Putin in person out of protocols. After landing at Palam airport Modi gave a hug to President Putin and welcomed with traditional dancers at airport then both of them left in the Prime Minister’s car.

PM Modi hosted him for a private dinner at his official residence, in a reciprocal gesture to the hospitality extended by the President Putin during the PM’s visit to Moscow in July last year. The dinner lasted around three hours and ended after 10 pm.

Modi in his twitter posted photographs on X twice, once of the two leaders at the airport and in the car and again of them at 7pm at Lok Kalyan Marg. Delighted to welcome my friend, President Putin to India. Looking forward to our interactions later this evening and tomorrow. India-Russia friendship is a time tested one that has greatly benefitted our people, PM Modi wrote in the first post. Modi posted a photo in his twitter x at 11.30 pm of him presenting a copy of the Bhagavad Gita in Russian to Putin. The teachings of the Gita give inspiration to millions across the world.

The summit itself will take place on Friday, preceded by a ceremonial welcome at Rashtrapati Bhavan, and followed by a working lunch at Hyderabad House, the traditional venue for India’s highest-level bilateral engagements. President Putin is also scheduled to visit Rajghat in the morning to pay respects to Mahatma Gandhi.

The Russian President will later inaugurate a new India-based channel of the Russian state broadcaster, before attending a state banquet hosted in his honour by President Droupadi Murmu. He is expected to depart India around 9 pm on Friday.

According to Government sources, President Putin is travelling with a large group of businesspeople, with India expecting to improve the trade deficit with one of its oldest strategic partners.

Officials from both sides have said the summit will focus on three critical themes defence, energy and trade. Government sources have said that multiple agreements and MoUs are expected in the fields of shipping, healthcare, fertilizers and connectivity.

On Thursday, ahead of the summit, the defence ministers of the two countries held wide-ranging talks that included India’s plan to procure additional batches of S-400 air defence systems and pending deliveries of military hardware delayed by the Ukraine war. The S-400 system, which India began, receiving under a USD 5 billion deal signed in 2018, played a big role during Operation Sindoor.