Putin's aide holds talks with NSA Doval

New Delhi, Nov 17 (PTI) Russian President Vladimir Putin's aide Nikolay Patrushev on Monday held talks with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval covering various aspects of bilateral ties.

The talks largely focused on President Putin's visit to India early next month, it is learnt.

Patrushev also met India's National Maritime Security Coordinator Vice Admiral Biswajit Dasgupta.

The Russian president is expected to visit India around December 5 to hold annual summit talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The summit is expected to produce significant outcomes to further solidify bilateral strategic ties.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is currently in Moscow to hold talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. Jaishankar's visit is also seen as part of the preparations for Putin's trip.

At the India-Russia annual summit, Modi and Putin are expected to deliberate on further expanding the "Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership" between the two countries.

India and Russia have a mechanism under which India's prime minister and the Russian president hold a summit meeting annually to review the entire gamut of ties.

So far, 22 annual summit meetings have taken place alternatively in India and Russia.

In July last year, Modi travelled to Moscow for the annual summit.

Russia has been a time-tested partner for India and the country has been a key pillar of New Delhi's foreign policy. PTI MPB ARI