Putin to travel to India in December, the Kremlin says

Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to travel to India in December, the Kremlin said Friday.

Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov told reporters that the Russian leader will discuss his upcoming December visit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday in China, where the two will meet on the sidelines of the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). The group was established by China and Russia in 2001 with a focus on security in Central Asia and the wider region.

Putin is attending the summit and holding multiple bilateral meetings on the sidelines as part of a four-day visit to China on Aug. 31 to Sept. 3. He also will hold extensive talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing and attend a massive military parade there commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War, according to the Kremlin.

In addition meeting with Modi, the Russian leader on Monday is also scheduled to have bilateral meetings with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, as well as other contacts, Ushakov said.

According to Ushakov, Putin’s meeting with Modi will be the first this year, but the two “have repeatedly maintained contact by telephone.”

Modi travelled to Russia last year twice – first to Moscow for talks with Putin in July, his first trip to Russia since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Kremlin’s forces in 2022, and then to Kazan in October for the summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies.

Russia had strong ties with India during the Cold War, and New Delhi’s importance as a key trading partner with Moscow has grown since the war in Ukraine.

Modi has avoided condemning Russia while emphasizing a peaceful settlement. Their partnership has become more complicated, however, as Russia has moved closer to China amid international isolation of Moscow over Ukraine.

China and India are key buyers of Russian oil following sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies that shut most Western markets off to Russian exports.