STATE TIMES NEWS

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday warmly welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin as he kick-started a nearly 27-hour visit to India to further shore up an eight-decade bilateral partnership that remained in firm footing notwithstanding fractious geopolitical upheavals.

In reflection of the importance India attached to the Russian leader’s first visit to India in four years, Modi received him at New Delhi’s Palam airport with a hug amid a group of artistes performing traditional dances.

From the airport, the two leaders travelled to Modi’s official residence in his car, nearly three months after the prime minister rode with Putin in the Russian leader’s vehicle in Chinese city of Tianjin during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit.

“Del

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