In Russia, NSA Ajit Doval says Putin to visit India, dates being worked out

“NSA Doval, during his visit to Moscow, has said that the dates for President Putin’s visit to India are being worked out. The time of end-August being cited in some media reports is incorrect,” said a source.

While Indian officials have said earlier that Putin will visit India this year, the timing of the reiteration by the NSA is important, in the context of the fraught ties between India and the US over Russian energy imports.

“We are very excited and delighted to learn about the visit of President Putin to India. I think that the dates are almost finalised now,” Doval said during his meeting with Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu in Moscow, according to a report by Russian news agency Sputnik.

“Russia is committed to a deeper cooperation with India to build a fair world order… strengthening strategic partnership with India is a priority for Russia, which is based on trust, mutual respect and consideration for each other’s interests,” Shoigu was quoted as saying.

Earlier this week, Russia had spoken out for India, saying “sovereign countries have the right to choose their trading partners”. On Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had termed the calls to “force countries to sever trading relations” with Russia as “illegitimate”.

This will be Putin’s first visit to India since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The visit is part of a protocol between India and Russia for reciprocal annual visits by their leaders. However, the visits stopped after the Ukraine war began, resuming only in July last year when Modi travelled to Moscow with the message that “a solution cannot be found on the battlefield”.

During his visit, Modi invited Putin to India for the 23rd India-Russia Annual Summit this year. Modi also met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv last August and asked him to sit with Putin to “find a way out of the crisis”.

Meanwhile, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said on Thursday that Putin and Trump would meet in the coming days – the first summit between leaders of the two countries since 2021. The announcement came a day after Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, held talks with Putin in search of a breakthrough to end the Ukraine war, now in its fourth year.

The New York Times reported that Trump told European leaders during a call on Wednesday that he intended to meet Putin and then follow up with a trilateral that would include the Russian President and Zelenskyy.