The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh had a 20-minute conversation over the telephone with President, Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation late in the evening of March 4th. The conversation was initiated by the Indian side.

The two leaders discussed implementation of areas of co-operation identified during their last Summit meeting in Moscow in December 2005 in context of the forthcoming visit of H.E. Mr. Mikhail Fradkov, Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, in mid-March. President, Putin also briefed Prime Minister, Dr. Singh about the G-8 Summit being hosted by Russia in St. Petersburg in July 2006. The Prime Minister conveyed his acceptance of President Putin's invitation to participate in a broader dialogue with G-8 at St. Petersburg.

The discussion between President, Putin and Prime Minister, Dr. Singh also covered India-Russia bilateral economic and commercial relations. Prime Minister, Dr. Singh expressed satisfaction that the bilateral agreement on Russia's accession to the WTO had been signed recently in accordance with his commitment to President, Putin during their last meeting. The two leaders also discussed on-going co-operation in the field of civilian nuclear energy.

The leaders exchanged views in context of the forthcoming meeting of the Board of Governors of the IAEA on March 6. Prime Minister welcomed Russia's efforts to address the issue related to Iran's nuclear programme through dialogue and consultations.