New Delhi, March 1 -- Acclaimed Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the NXT event held at the Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi on Saturday, presenting the Indian PM with the flags of the two countries that had been onboard the International Space Station (ISS).

During the brief interaction, Artemyev also presented PM Modi a book 'On the Moon' written by noted Russian theoretical space scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky.

"In turn, PM Narendra Modi highly praised the level of international cooperation in space exploration, and specifically noted the bilateral collaboration between Russia and India on space projects, including our country's contribution to the national manned space mission Gaganya...