NEW DELHI: Russia is preparing for President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday without giving a time frame for the trip.
Putin is expected to travel to India later this year, possibly in the second half, for an annual summit of the leaders of the two sides. This will be his first visit to India since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He last visited India in December 2021.
In a video address at a conference in Moscow with the theme of “Russia and India: Together towards a new bilateral agenda”, Lavrov said: “It is symbolic that Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his first bilateral foreign visit after his re-election last year to Russia.
“Now it is our turn. Russian President Vladimir Putin accepted the invitation of the head of the Indian government. The visit of the head of the Russian state to...India is being prepared.”
Lavrov didn’t give details about the proposed visit. Modi and Putin met twice last year in Russia, including when the Indian leader travelled to Moscow in July for the annual summit.
{{/usCountry}}Lavrov didn’t give details about the proposed visit. Modi and Putin met twice last year in Russia, including when the Indian leader travelled to Moscow in July for the annual summit.
{{/usCountry}}Lavrov expressed Russia’s gratitude for India, and “personally Prime Minister Modi, consistently taking a balanced position on the Ukrainian crisis” and advocating its resolution through dialogue.
“We fully share this approach and from the very beginning of the crisis we have been talking about Russia’s openness to negotiations, which should lead to the end of the conflict and the establishment of a lasting peace by eliminating its root causes,” he said.
India has refrained from publicly criticising Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and called for a return to dialogue and diplomacy, saying a solution can’t be found on the battlefield.
Lavrov said strengthening the special and privileged strategic partnership with India is one of the priorities of Russia’s foreign policy. “Much attention is paid to the implementation of this task. In practical work, we feel that the Indian side is doing the same,” he said.
India-Russia relations have “stood the test of time more than once”, and both sides are developing cooperation based on a “sincere, mutual respect and consideration of each other’s interests”.
Trade and economic cooperation is steadily expanding, and both sides are “successfully overcoming the attempts of individual ill-wishers to prevent this”, Lavrov said.
In 2024, bilateral trade exceeded $ 60 billion, though the balance was skewed in Russia’s favour because of India’s massive purchases of discounted Russian crude.
Lavrov said political dialogue too is developing dynamically because Moscow and New Delhi have “close or even coinciding views on the objectively emerging multipolar world order”.
Both sides also want an increased role for the Global South in economic governance mechanisms and the right to “independently determine their own development paths”, he said.