Dates for President Putin’s India visit still being worked out
New Delhi/Moscow, Aug 7 (UNI) The dates for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s India visit are still being worked out, sources said today terming as “incorrect” media reports claiming that the Russian President would pay a visit at the end of August.
The sources said that “National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, during his visit to Moscow, has said that the dates of President Putin’s visit to India are being worked out.
“No specific date or time has been indicated by NSA in his engagements. The time of end-August being reported is incorrect,” the sources added.
Meanwhile, Sputnik has quoted NSA Doval as saying that President Putin would visit India at the end of the year.
“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 year,” Doval said at a meeting with Russian Security Council chief Sergei Shoigu in Moscow.
President Putin had last visited India in December 2021, for the 21st India-Russia annual summit talks — a few months before the Ukraine conflict began.
Prime Minister Modi visited Russia twice last year, once for the annual bilateral summit with President Putin in July, and later in October for the 16th BRICS Summit in Kazan, when the two leaders met on the sidelines of the summit.
NSA Doval’s current visit to Moscow and the talk about President Putin’s upcoming visit come at a time of rising trade tensions between India and the US over New Delhi’s continued purchase of Russian oil.
On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order slapping an additional 25 per cent tariff on Indian imports, citing India’s ongoing purchases of Russian oil.
The US has also threatened secondary sanctions against buyers of Russian crude unless Moscow agrees to end the war in Ukraine by Friday.
Meanwhile, President Putin and US President Donald Trump are set to meet in the coming days.
