New Delhi, May 7
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh leaves here tomorrow for Russia to participate in the 60th Anniversary celebrations of the Allies’ victory in World War II.

During this short multilateral visit, he will hold bilateral meetings with several world leaders on the margins, including Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The information with the Government of India is at least 56 Heads of States are expected to participate in the main event on May 9. That is exactly the date 60 years back when the German forces surrendered to the forces of Soviet Union in Berlin.

The total casualties that the Soviet Union suffered in World War II were in the range of about 27 million people — 20 million of them civilians.

The events of May 9 are likely to start at 10 am with a military parade. At 11.30, the leaders walk on to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier where a wreath laying ceremony would be held, Additional Secretary (Eurasia) in the Ministry of External Affairs said at a briefing here this afternoon.

Thereafter, President Putin would host a lunch reception for the assembled leaders.

The Manmohan-Putin bilateral meeting is likely to be the very first meeting after the luncheon reception. It will be one of the very few bilateral meetings that President Putin will hold during the course of various events on the 9th of May.

Later in the evening, there will be a cultural programme for the assembled leaders, including a fireworks display.

Indo-Russian relations have been going from strength to strength over the years and the two countries have been in close and frequent touch with each other since October last.

There were a series of visits to India from Russia starting with Foreign Minister Lavrov in early October.

Again in October, External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh, Foreign Minister Lavrov and the Foreign Minister of China had met in Almaty for the trilateral meeting.

Then the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia came for a Joint Commission meeting on November 18-19, which was co-chaired by Mr Natwar Singh. On November 30, the Russian Defence Minister had visited India.

The Indo-Russian summit, the annual Summit, fifth in the series, was held on December 3 in New Delhi.

India and Russia have had the first ever energy seminar in New Delhi. The two countries also had the first ever IT seminar in Bangalore in early December. From February 15, diplomatic and official passport holders of the two countries do not need to take a prior visa before visiting each other’s country.

One of the Russian banks opened a representative office in New Delhi only last month. The State Bank of India is present in Moscow. Since December, eight new credit lines have been set up by the Indian banks to their counterpart Russian banks.

The first Indo-Russian Banking seminar is expected to be held in Moscow later this month on 18th-19th.

Twelve Indian banks are expected to participate. It is also likely that later in the month the Minister of Petroleum may visit Russia. This will be his second visit. This time he might even go to Sakhalin where ONGC Videsh has an equity participation.