Sunday, December 4 2005 20:41 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Moscow: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived here to a red carpet welcome today (Dec 04, 2005) on a three-day official visit, during which he will hold wide-ranging talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin at the sixth Indo-Russian annual summit on Tuesday.

He was received at the Vnukovo-2 VVIP airport by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov, Indian Ambassador to the Russian Federation Kanwal Sibal and senior Russian officials. Tri-services guard of honour was lined up the tarmac to welcome Manmohan Singh.

After the ceremonial welcome, the PM and his team drove straight to Hotel Baltschug Kempinski situated just opposite the Kremlin across the Moskva River.

The Prime Minister will start the official part of his visit tomorrow by receiving the degree of 'Professor Honoris Causa' of Russia's oldest Moscow State University.

Russian Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko and Vice Premier and Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov will call on the Prime Minister separately tomorrow at the hotel.

Later, Singh is to address the Indo-Russian business meet organised jointly by FICCI and CII who have sent a 14-member business delegation to Moscow, besides interacting with the local Indian community.

On Tuesday, he will hold one-to-one and delegation level talks in the Kremlin with President Vladimir Putin within the sixth annual Indo-Russian summit.

The two friendly nations had decided to make the summit an annual event in 2000 when the Russian President first visited India. The summit is an occasion for the two sides to synchronise their watches on vital international issues and review progress in the multi-faceted bilateral relations.