Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit to be held at Samarkand in Uzbekistan on Thursday evening.

During the SCO meeting, Putin will discuss Russian-Indian cooperation within the UN and G20, international media reported.

Notably, this would be the first time that PM Modi and Putin will hold face-to-face bilateral talks since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“A conversation on international agenda with Modi will also take place, the sides will discuss issues of strategic stability, the situation in the Asia Pacific Region, and, of course, cooperation within major multilateral formats, such as the UN, the G20 and the SCO,” said Russian Presidential aide Yuri Ushakov.

“This is particularly important because India will preside in the UN Security Council in December, and in 2023, India will lead the SCO and also chair the G20,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin in a statement said, "There are plans to discuss issues of 'saturation' of the Indian market with Russian fertilizers and bilateral food supplies."

While Russia confirmed that PM Modi will be meeting Putin, there are however no indications of the PM to have any structured conversation with China and Pakistan.