Advani trip is off last minute, Moscow reason: Putin’s busy

The last-minute cancellation of Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani’s four-day trip to Russia, beginning from tomorrow, has raised diploma...

The last-minute cancellation of Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani’s four-day trip to Russia, beginning from tomorrow, has raised diplomatic eyebrows in both countries, even as Russian sources from Moscow ascribed it to President Vladimir Putin’s ‘‘very packed schedule’’ that includes a visit at the ‘‘exact same time’’ by the King of Morocco.

While no official statement was issued in New Delhi, in Moscow, an Indian Embassy official told The Indian Exress: ‘‘The visit has been postponed. We are working with the Russian side to reschedule the visit.’’ He declined to give reasons for the unexpected postponement.

During his visit—his first since 1977 when he was I&B Minister—Advani was scheduled to hold talks with his Russian counterpart, Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov, and other senior Russian officials.

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Advani’s visit to Moscow was considered a precursor to Putin’s state visit to India from December 2-4.

Advani was expected to call on Putin and discuss Putin’s programme. Several key agreements are on the cards to be signed during Putin’s visit, including a political declaration reflecting the importance of the Indo-Russian ‘‘strategic partnership,’’ and an accord on setting up a joint forum on energy and economic agreements.

Given this, the cancellation is curious since Russia not only continues to supply most of the new defence forces, but is working on interesting new arrangements to do energy, including nuclear energy, deals with India.

Speculation in Moscow attributed the cancellation to a possible pre-emptive strike by Russian forces over the next few days in Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge, where Moscow says, anti-Russian terrorists are hiding. Advani may have not wanted to be in Moscow when such a strike took place, the speculation went.

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