President Putin to visit India, dates almost finalised, confirms NSA Doval

National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval on Wednesday confirmed that the dates for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India have “almost been finalised,” signalling continued momentum in the long-standing bilateral relationship.

Speaking in Moscow during a high-level engagement, Doval said, “We are very excited and delighted to know about President Putin’s visit to India. I think the dates have almost been finalised now.”

Reaffirming the depth of the India-Russia partnership, he said that both the countries greatly value their strategic partnership

“We have a very special, long-term relationship, and we greatly value our strategic partnership. High-level meetings have taken place between us, and these high-level meetings have made a very significant contribution,” he added.

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The anticipated visit is expected to further bolster cooperation across defence, energy, and multilateral coordination platforms like BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

Earlier in the day, Doval met Russian Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu, who said that the two countries are linked by “strong, time-tested ties of friendship.”

“A multi-level trust-based political dialogue is effectively functioning between our countries now. It is based on regular contacts between President Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It is important to determine the dates for the next full-scale negotiations between our leaders,” Shoigu was quoted as saying by the state-run TASS news agency.

On November 19, 2024, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov had confirmed that Putin would visit India.

Shoigu said that for Moscow, the most important thing is to comprehensively strengthen the special privileged strategic partnership with India, which is based on “mutual respect, trust, equal consideration of each other’s interests, and the desire to promote a unifying agenda.”

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“We are committed to further active cooperation to form a new, more just and sustainable world order, ensure the rule of international law and jointly combat modern challenges and threats,” Shoigu said.

Doval expressed hope that the summit meeting would provide new directions for the development of bilateral relations and produce a “tangible and substantial" result of the talks, TASS reported.

According to local reports, Doval is likely to meet top Russian officials to discuss defence and economic cooperation.

Doval arrived in Moscow on Wednesday to hold crucial talks on bilateral energy and defence ties and to prepare the ground for President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India later this year.

His visit commenced on a day when US President Donald Trump issued an executive order slapping an additional 25 per cent tariff on Indian goods as a penalty for buying Russian oil, doubling it to 50 per cent.

With inputs from agencies