Saturday, June 11 2005 12:44 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Moscow: Russia will throw a red carpet welcome to United Programme Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi when she arrives in Moscow on Monday (Jun 13, 2005) on a four-day visit as the personal guest of President Vladimir Putin.

"This visit is an exceptional gesture of friendship made by the Russian President taking into account the high degree of importance attached by both sides to India-Russia relationship," Indian ambassador Kanwal Sibal told reporters in Moscow on Thursday (Jun 9, 2005) about the upcoming visit of the Congress chief.

Talks with Putin in his hometown St Petersburg on Wednesday (Jun 15, 2005) would be the political centrepiece of Sonia Gandhi's Russia visit - her first tour to a UN Security Council's P-5 nation after becoming UPA chairperson.

Sonia's agenda for talks with President Putin would not include issues, which are the prerogative of the Prime Minister or the President of India, officials in Moscow said.

In Moscow, besides meeting with Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, an old India hand, Sonia is also scheduled to address a function on Tuesday (Jun 14, 2005) organised in her honour by the civic body Centre of National Glory of Russia'. The Centre has top Kremlin officials including Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov and daughter of the world's first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, Yelena Gagarina on its trustee council.

In recent weeks, there has been an unprecedented number of high level visits between the Government, State and party leadership to sustain and advance a political dialogue between New Delhi and Moscow.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had toured Moscow to attend Victory Day celebrations in the beginning of May, followed by President A P J Abdul Kalam, who paid his first State visit to Russia on May 22-25.

In the beginning of this month, External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh visited Russia's far eastern port-city of Vladivostok for bilateral talks with his Russian colleague Sergei Lavrov and to attend an India-Russia-China trilateral meeting.