Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit India at the end of 2025, Interfax news agency quoted India's national security adviser Ajit Doval as saying in Moscow on Thursday, correcting an earlier Reuters report that he would go in late August.
"Now we have established very good relations, which we value very much, a strategic partnership between our countries. We interact at a high level... We were pleased to know about President Putin's visit to our country at the end of August," Doval said at a meeting with Russian Security Council chief Sergei Shoigu.
India is expected to host Putin as part of the annual India-Russia bilateral summit. It will be the Russian President's first trip to India since December 2021.
Meanwhile, in a related development, Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump will meet in the coming days, in what would be the first summit between leaders of the two countries since 2021.
"At the suggestion of the American side, an agreement was essentially reached to hold a bilateral meeting at the highest level in the coming days, that is, a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump," Ushakov said. "We are now beginning concrete preparations together with our American colleagues," Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.
August is already seeing hectic diplomatic activity as US President Donald Trump goes on dropping tariff bombs, especially targeting India over its continued purchase of Russian oil - a revenue source the US says is sustaining Moscow's war in Ukraine.
On Wednesday, Trump doubled the tariffs on India to 50 per cent after accusing it of fuelling Russia's "war machine" by buying oil. He also warned that secondary sanctions were also on the horizon.
Trump has threatened 100 per cent secondary tariffs on Russia, which is already facing heavy sanctions by the US and the West, if it does not adhere to the deadline.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Moscow in July 2024, where the 22nd Russia-India Annual Summit was held. During the visit, Modi extended an invitation to President Vladimir Putin to visit India. In May 2025, the Kremlin press service confirmed that Modi had reaffirmed the invitation.
