Assad meets Putin in Sochi on future peace talks

The president said Russian Federation must focus its energy on working out a solution that raises its competitiveness in economic growth and technology development.

"Russia wasn't the one who imposed sanctions, Russian Federation did not initiate the exchange of sanctions", he said.

Russian Federation carries out cooperation with some 100 countries in military and technical sectors, Kozhin added. "It is a question of using that trust and friendship that we have to discuss a number of issues those have emerged as a result of important changes in the global and regional situations", the official said.

The US had imposed sanctions on Russian Federation earlier this year under CAATSA for its military intervention in Ukraine and alleged meddling in the 2016 US Presidential elections.

It has been already indicated by New Delhi that India Russia Civil Nuclear Cooperation inthird countries may also be discussed.

The sources said the large part of the informal meeting between Modi and Putin will be one-to-one and there may be limited segment for restricted delegation level discussions.

Putin is scheduled to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday and French President Emmanuel Macron next week.

It would be Modi's second informal summit in as many months as he held talks with Chinese President Xi Jingpin in China's Wuhan in a similar format last month.

This assumes significance against the backdrop of the challenge posed to India-Russia defence partnership by impending United States sanctions against several Russian entities involved in military supplies to India under the controversial Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).

According to the statement, the summit is taking place at the invitation of Putin. Both the leaders will also exchange views on their domestic priorities.

Data from India's Ministry of Commerce shows that last year, the bilateral trade witnessed a 21.4% jump year-on-year and reached $9.4 billion.