Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has a busy August ahead of him. Sputnik reports that he will be meeting Trump in the coming days. More important from India’s point of view, he is expected in India sometime soon.
National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval announced the India visit during a meeting with Russia’s Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu in Moscow on Thursday.
“Now we have established very good relations, which we value very much, a strategic partnership between our countries. We interact at a high level… We were pleased to know about President Putin’s visit to our country. I think that the dates are almost finalized now, ” the NSA said. He is currently in Moscow to bolster security, economic and energy ties between the two countries.
The last bilateral meeting between PM Modi and Putin took place in July 2024 in Moscow, where the 22nd Russia-India Annual Summit was held. During the meeting, the PM extended an invitation to Vladimir Putin to visit India and in May 2025, he later reaffirmed the invite, as per the Kremlin press service.
EAM S Jaishankar too is expected to travel to Russia in the third week of August for a scheduled meeting of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation, as reported by the Hindustan Times. India hosted the last meeting of the body in November 2024, and it is now Russia’s turn.
Since Putin will be meeting Trump next week, well ahead of his Delhi visit, Modi will get a first hand assessment of Trump’s thinking. An agreement or understanding on ending the Ukraine war would come as a relief since the US leader has tied the trade talks with India to its purchase of Russian oil.
