‘Now, it’s our turn’: Putin accepts Modi’s invitation to visit India

Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov today confirmed that President Vladimir Putin would visit India.

Lavrov said, “PM Narendra Modi made his first bilateral foreign visit to Russia after his re-election last year. Now, it is our turn. President Putin has accepted the Indian invite.”

He was addressing a conference, “Russia and India: Towards a New Bilateral Agenda”, through a video message. The event is being conducted in Moscow.

Lavrov said Russia and India were aiming to take their bilateral ties to an all-time high, and for this, Putin would visit India soon. He said, “Our relations have a solid material base. Trade and economic cooperation are steadily expanding…” “Arrangements are being made for Putin’s visit to India,” he said. However, he did not specify the month or date when the visit would take place.

During his visit to Russia last year, Modi had invited the Russian President for an official state visit. This will be Putin’s first visit to India since the war in Ukraine broke out in February 2022. The visit is expected to take forward Putin’s “new economic roadmap” for 2030. India and Russia have agreed to double their bilateral trade to over $100 billion annually.

Meanwhile, addressing the conference through a video message, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said India was looking at “further enhancement” of its ties with Russia and the strategic partnership between the two nations remained a shared foreign policy priority. Jaishankar highlighted the “resilience of the bond” between the two nations, saying it was based on the “deep historical roots” and a “long tradition of trust and mutual respect”.