Officials who went to Moscow with the Prime Minister for the brief summit have been assiduously denying reports of any diplomatic chill in the Indo-Russian relations. But there was no denying the actual chill in the weather as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived at the Kremlin on November 12. There was gentle snowfall throughout the day in Moscow with temperature dipping to -7 degrees centigrade. By the time the Prime Minister’s entourage left for Vnukovo-2 Airport the same evening, snow was already piling up along Moscow’s wide roads. Eventually, it was the Moscow chill that also delayed the Prime Minister’s departure by 45 minutes. Air India’s VVIP jumbo, Tanjore, had “frozen wings”. Tanjore had to be taxied to a side bay and its wings “de-iced” with water jets laced with chemicals. Only then, it was cleared for take-off.

For love of the House

Manmohan Singh, unlike many of his predecessors, is known for his preference to keep his foreign trips as short as is possible. He is also known to takes his Parliamentary responsibilities very seriously. This time, his anxiety over the crucial Winter Session was ostensibly the reason behind the one-day annual summit with President Vladimir Putin. In fact, Parliament schedule has also taken a toll on the Prime Minister’s next foreign tour to Singapore and Uganda, beginning November 20. The trip has now been officially split into two. Manmohan Singh will return to Delhi from Singapore after the ASEAN Summit on the morning of November 22 to attend Parliament. He will again fly off the same evening to Kampala for the CHOGM Summit and return home on November 24.

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