Russian president congratulates India’s premier on successful moon landing

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday congratulated Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the phone for the country's successful moon landing of its spacecraft last week.

"Readiness was reaffirmed to further develop bilateral cooperation in the space sector," said a statement by the Kremlin following the phone conversation.

It also said Putin and Modi discussed the results of the 15th summit of the BRICS grouping last week, and stressed the importance of the agreements reached during the meeting in South Africa, most notably the economic bloc's expansion.

Both leaders agreed on maintaining close cooperation in the context of Russia's upcoming BRICS chairmanship, which is due to start on Jan. 1, 2024, the statement added.

"An exchange of views was also held in connection with the upcoming Group of 20 summit in New Delhi," it also said.

Putin and Modi also addressed topical issues in bilateral relations and the leaders expressed mutual disposition for "the consistent implementation of large-scale projects in the energy sector and joint work to expand the international transport and logistics infrastructure."

Last Wednesday, India made history as its moon mission Chandrayaan-3 conducted a successful landing, thus becoming the first country to have landed on the lunar south pole.