Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to meet with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow early next month, Indian and Russian media reported Monday.
The Indian English-language newspaper The Tribune, without citing sources,reported that Modi was expected to visit Moscow on July 8 to “underline the engagement” between the two countries.
Likewise, Russian officials quoted by state media said they were “actively preparing” for the meeting.
“I can confirm that we’re preparing a visit by the prime minister of India,” Putin’s aide Yury Ushakovtold the state-run TASS news agency without disclosing the specific dates of the trip.
Russian and Indian leaders have held bilateral meetings every year since 2000, except for during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Modi scrapped the annual Russia-India summit in December 2022 amidreports that he was seeking to distance himself from Putin’s nuclear threats against Ukraine.
India has not condemned Moscow or imposed sanctions for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, though Modi publiclycriticized Putin in September 2022.
Russia has redirected its oil exports from Europe to India and China after Western countries hit Moscow with sanctions.
