NEW DELHI — Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar hailed on Monday India-Russia relations ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin's official visit to the country later in the day.

In his opening remarks at bilateral meeting between Jaishankar and his Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov who arrived New Delhi Sunday night as part of a high level delegation which also includes Defense Minister Gen. Sergei Shoigu, the minister underlined that India-Russia partnership is unique and has remained remarkably steady and strong in a world of rapid geopolitical changes.

"I would like to also take the opportunity to underline that we are very satisfied with our bilateral relations and the state of our cooperation," Jaishankar said.

Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh also met his Russian counterpart Gen. Sergei Shoigu and asserted that defense cooperation is one of the key pillars of the bilateral ties while thanking Russia for its strong support.

"Defense cooperation is one of the most important pillars of our partnership. India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation is a well-established mechanism for the past two decades. I hope the India-Russia partnership will bring peace to the entire region and provide stability to the region," said Singh.

"The bilateral ties are time-tested, based on a common interest in multilateralism, global peace, prosperity and mutual understanding and trust," he said, adding India Russia ties are "not targeted against any country. We hope that our partnership will bring peace and prosperity to the entire region."

Both the Russian ministers are here to take part in the first '2+2' dialogue with their Indian counterparts. All the ministers are also scheduled to take part in the summit meeting between Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi later in the day.

In the meeting several issues of mutual concern in the political, defense and security areas are to come up for discussion apart from regional issues including developments in Afghanistan.

"India-Russia partnership is unique. We are very conscious that in a world of rapid geopolitical changes, it has in fact been remarkably steady and strong," Jaishankar said in his opening remarks at the meeting.

"I would like to also take the opportunity to underline that we are very satisfied with our bilateral relations and the state of our cooperation," he added.

"For us, the annual India-Russia summit is a unique event. Prime Minister Modi and President Putin share a relationship of great trust and confidence," Jaishankar said.

"The annual summit is taking place after a gap of two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic. We are looking forward to some very significant outcomes from the summit," Jaishankar added. — Agencies