Putin hails Manmohan Singh's Russia visit

Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Thursday said agreements, including a key civil nuclear deal signed during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's recent visit to Moscow have strengthened 'bilateral strategic partnership' with India.

"During your recent Moscow visit we have managed to reach large-scale agreements, which have strengthened the foundation of bilateral strategic partnership, which is fully in the traditional spirit of friendship and mutual trust between Russia and India," Putin wrote to Singh in his New Year message excerpts, released in Moscow by the Russian prime minister's office.

During the Singh's Moscow visit, India and Russia signed several key agreements including on the civilian nuclear cooperation and extension of their long-term defence cooperation programme by another 10 years to 2020.

Major Indo-Russian agreements are in the pipeline, including the formation of a JV for the joint development and production of multi-role transport aircraft, joint development of a fifth generation fighter aircraft, which could be signed during Russian Prime Minister Putin's India visit in March at the invitation of his Indian counterpart.