Defence Minister Rajnath Singh holds talks with Russian counterpart

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday held talks with his Russian counterpart Gen Sergey Shoigu and discussed ways to further boost strategic cooperation including expansion of joint production of military equipment.

Mr Shoigu and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in New Delhi on Sunday night to hold the inaugural '2+2' dialogue with their Indian counterparts.

After the '2+2' talks, the two Russian ministers will join President Vladimir Putin later in the day in his summit talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Russian Defence Minister, General Sergey Shoigu meeting Raksha Mantri Shri @rajnathsingh at Sushma Swaraj Bhawan in New Delhi," Mr Singh's office tweeted along with a photo of the meeting.

India and Russia are set to ink a number of pacts to expand cooperation in key areas of defence, trade and investment, energy and technology at the summit.

In the summit as well as in the inaugural '2+2' defence and foreign ministerial talks, the two sides are also expected to focus on the situation in Afghanistan.

Officials said a number of a issues including ways to expand joint production of defence equipment figured in the Singh-Shoigu talks.

Ahead of the summit, India cleared the long-pending AK 203 Kalashnikov rifles deal worth nearly Rs 5,000 crore for production of over five lakh such rifles at Korwa in Amethi by an Indo-Russian joint venture.