Moscow, Nov 11: Seeking to build on India's strategic partnership with Russia, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee tonight held informal talks with President Vladimir Putin shortly after arriving here to a red carpet welcome. In an honour reserved only for a select few world leaders, Putin hosted a private dinner for Vajpayee at Novoo Gareva Dacha located in a sprawling forest area, 15 kms outside this capital city.

The 78-year old Indian leader and Putin, 27 years younger, greeted each other warmly at the Dacha before the informal talks in the presence of only the interpreters. No official word was available on the subject of their discussions as formal summit talks are scheduled tomorrow at the Kremlin when as many as 10 agreements and a joint declaration on global challenges posed by issues such as terrorism will be signed.

Landing at Vunkovo Airport on a breezy cold evening after an eight-hour flight that avoided Pakistani airspace, Vajpayee was received by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Boris Alyoshin and Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov, senior officials and Indian ambassador K Raghunath. He inspected an Interservices Ceremonial Guard of honour on the tarmac as temperatures dipped to three degrees celesius.

This is the fourth meeting between the two leaders in in the last 12 months.

Bureau Report