Foreign minister Jaishankar on two-day visit to Russia from today

India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will be in Moscow for a two-day visit and will hold talks with his counterpart Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday on the developing situation in Afghanistan and Iran and situation in the Gulf.

Both sides after holding talks starting 1:00pm on Wednesday and will hold a press conference in which important things are likely to be announced especially in convergences on regional developments.

"They will discuss... efforts to preserve the joint comprehensive plan of action on Iranian nuclear programme, developments in the Persian Gulf area and situation in Afghanistan", Maria Zakharova, spokesperson of Russian foreign ministry said.

The visit comes just ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Russia in the first week of September to participate in the Eastern Economic Forum.

"They will focus on the preparations for the Indian delegation's participation in the 5th eastern economic forum and the annual summit. Important thematic sections include trade, investment, military, science and technology cooperation, the use of national currencies for mutual payments and prospective projects in space exploration and energy", Zakharova added.

Moscow has supported India on Kashmir. It wasthe first member of the permanent five of the United Nations Security Council to back New Delhi's decision to remove the special statusfor the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.

TheRussiaministry of foreign affairs, in response to a question, said, "Change in the status of the state of Jammu and Kashmir and its division into two union territories are carried out within theframework of the Constitution of the Republic of India."