Russia and India sign agreements on defense cooperation

Russia and India have signed a number of agreements and contracts concerning small arms and defense cooperation, Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said on Twitter on Monday.

"Glad that a number of agreements, contracts, protocols were signed pertaining to small arms and military cooperation," the tweet reads.

"India deeply appreciates Russia’s strong support for India. We hope that our cooperation will bring peace, prosperity, and stability to the entire region," Singh added.

The Indian defense chief held talks with his Russian counterpart Army General Sergey Shoigu in New Delhi earlier on Monday. The meeting took place in the lead-up to a Russian-Indian summit scheduled for Monday evening.

Shoigu, in turn, praised the relations between Russia and India at a meeting with Singh. "The intensive and deep military-technical cooperation, which reaches a new qualitative level every year, shows the unprecedented level of trust between our countries," Shougu said.

The relations will get a further boost from the 20th session of the intergovernmental commission on military and military-technical cooperation, which will take place on Monday, he said.

"We are set for fruitful joint work," TASS cited the Russian minister as saying.

Rajnath Singh said on Twitter that India and Russia have held substantial discussions on defense cooperation. "Had a productive, fruitful and substantial bilateral discussions on defence cooperation with the Russian Defence Minister, General Sergey Shoigu in New Delhi today," the tweet reads. "India values its special and privileged strategic partnership with Russia," Singh emphasized.