Vladimir Putin to visit India next month for 2 days, Russia confirms: Check dates here

Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to make a 2-day visit to India next month. Russian state news agencies on Friday confirmed the development and said that the 73-year-old leader will be in India from December 4 to 5.

Following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's invitation, Vladimir Putin will pay a State visit to the nation for the 23rd India-Russia Annual Summit. Russian authorities in a statement said, "the two leaders will "discuss all aspects" of Russian-Indian ties and also touch on regional and international issues."

In a press release, Ministry of External Affairs stated, "During the visit, President Putin will hold talks with Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. Hon'ble Rashtrapatiji will also receive President Putin and host a banquet in his honour.

Suggesting that the upcoming visit aims to bolster ties between the two nations, the press release adds, “The forthcoming State Visit will provide an opportunity for the leadership of India and Russia to review progress in bilateral relations, set the vision for strengthening the ‘Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership’ and exchange views on regional and global issues of mutual interest.”

Delay in delivery of S-400 air defence system

Notably, delayed delivery of S-400 air defence system from Russia due to supply chain issues has raised concern. In the wake of ongoing conflicts worldwide, Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh while addressing ANI's National Security Summit on Friday asserted that the government is looking to introduce new rules, including foreclosing any deal if deliveries are not made within a year.

It is important to note that the S-400 were one of the air defence systems that were successfully deployed to bring down various Pakistani planes during Operation Sindoor. As per ANI report, India is planning to purchase a large number of missiles worth nearly ₹10,000 crore from Russia.

Termed as a game-changer by the Indian Air Force, the S-400 air defence system brought down one spy plane and five to six Pakistani fighter aircrafts at a distance of over 300 Km deep inside Pakistan territory during the four-day conflict.

Ukraine war peace plan

This comes a day after Vladimir Putin responded to US President Donald Trump’s proposals for ending the war in Ukraine. Asserting that the peace plan draft could be the basis for future agreements, he said, “In general, we agree that this can form the basis for future agreements,” on Thursday during a news conference in Kyrgyzstan following the Collective Security Treaty Organization summit.

Signalling an openness to talks, he added, “But it would be impolite of me to talk about any final versions now. There are none,” Bloomberg reported.