Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit India in December for the annual India-Russia Summit, Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters in Moscow.
No date has been fixed as yet.
Ushakov said Putin would meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in China’s Tianjin to discuss the preparations for his visit to India.
“Right after the SCO Plus meeting (on September 1), our President will meet Indian Prime Minister Modi,” Ushakov told journalists.
“What is especially important is that preparations will be discussed for the upcoming visit of our President to India in December,” he added.
Putin’s visit is getting international attention because it comes in the wake of US President Donald Trump doubling tariffs on Indian goods to 50 per cent, including a 25 per cent additional levy as punishment for India’s purchase of Russian oil. However, the visit is part of the India-Russia Annual Summit that alternates between the two countries every year.
India and Russia have regular engagements at various levels, and the past couple of months have seen both national security adviser Ajit Doval and external affairs minister S. Jaishankar visiting Moscow to prepare for the annual summit.