Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to visit India later this year during the annual India-Russia Summit, but officials confirmed on Thursday that a definite timeline during which the visit will take place is yet to be concluded. This is a new development amid speculations after the meetings of the National Security Adviser (NSA), Ajit Doval, with high-level Russian officials in Moscow recently.
People familiar with the matter say that reports by some Russian state-run media that Putin will go to India in late August are incorrect. Such reports misquoted Doval in Moscow, who had said that dates of the visit still remained to be finalised by President Putin. He said nothing of a set timetable nor affirmed a specific time frame.
The visit of President Putin would come after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Moscow to attend the 2024 summit. Both of them are already conducting some preliminary agreements to have Putin visit, but the specific dates are yet to be confirmed. The visit forms the regular high-level meetings that are discussed under the annual summit mechanism between India and Russia, and it strives to enhance strategy and economic relations.
The visit by Doval, who visited Moscow earlier, has assumed fresh importance in the development of geopolitics, especially the move taken by U.S. President Donald Trump to impose a further 25 per cent punitive tariff on India as long as it continues to import oil from Russia. The enhancement of security and economic relations was important on the agenda of Doval’s visits.
Moreover, the External Affairs Minister of India, S. Jaishankar, should pay a visit to Russia in the third week of August. He will be in town when the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC) meet, the main institutional mechanism of bilateral trade and economic cooperation.
Negotiations in such visits are assumed to set the stage for the long-awaited visit of Putin.
Join our whatsapp group for Latest updates
Click Here for Chhattisgarh News
Click Here for Entertainment News