Putin dials Modi, conveys Russia's full support to India's fight against terrorism

Russian President Vladimir Putin called Prime Minister Narendra Modi and expressed full support to India in its fight against terrorism, following the recent terror attack in Pahalgam.

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal shared details of the call on social media platform X.

“Putin strongly condemned the terror attack in Pahalgam, India. He conveyed deepest condolences on the loss of innocent lives and expressed full support to India in the fight against terrorism. He emphasised that the perpetrators of the heinous attack and their supporters must be brought to justice,” Jaiswal said.

Both leaders reiterated their commitment to further deepen the India-Russia special and privileged strategic partnership.

PM Modi conveyed greetings to President Putin on the celebration of the 80th anniversary of Victory Day (May 9) and invited him for the annual summit to be held in India later in the year.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin confirmed that Putin has accepted PM Modi's invitation to visit India for the annual high-level meeting, reports PTI.

“The Indian leader confirmed his invitation to the Russian president to visit India for an annual bilateral summit. The invitation was gratefully accepted,” the Kremlin said in a statement.

Last week on May 2, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, had spoken to his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov and conveyed the perpetrators, backers and planners of the Pahalgam attack must be brought to justice.

Jaishankar posted on social media platform that he had discussed the Pahalgam terrorist attack with Lavrov. “Its perpetrators, backers and planners must be brought to justice,” the post said.

The Russian side also issued its account of the telephone conversation with the Russian Embassy in New Delhi stating, “They (Lavrov and Jaishankar) discussed the aggravation of Indian-Pakistani relations following the terrorist attack near Pahalgam.”

Lavrov has suggested a way forward, the statement said: “Sergey Lavrov called for the settlement of disagreements between New Delhi and Islamabad by political and diplomatic means on a bilateral basis in accordance with the provisions of the Simla Agreement of 1972 and the Lahore Declaration of 1999.”