Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to make a meaningful visit to India according to the spokesman of the Kremlin.
Dmitry Peskov told reporters earlier on Monday, “We are currently actively preparing for Putin’s visit to India, which is planned before the end of this year. We hope that it will be a meaningful visit,” he said.
Russia and India are preparing to hold a summit later in December during which the two countries will sign a list of agreements,”We will announce all the agreements that are planned to be reached in due time,” the spokesman said.
According to The Economic Times report, Russia and India are allegedly preparing to sign a labor mobility agreement.
The document in question is being prepared for signing at the upcoming Russian-Indian summit in December.
The report claims that the agreement will lead to more Indian citizens living in Russia in the coming years.
In earlier preparation for Putin’s visit, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Patrushev recently travelled to Delhi.
He met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discussed economic issues, including a Free Trade Agreement under negotiation and agricultural trade.
Meanwhile Mr. Modi and Mr. Putin have also spoken directly, including once in person in Tianjin on the sidelines of the SCO Summit on September 1, and twice over the telephone, on August 8 and September 17, when Mr. Modi said he looked forward to receiving Mr. Putin in Delhi “later this year”.
The visit will be Putin’s first trip to India since 2021. The trip comes at a time New Delhi weighs its options on the import of Russian oil given U.S. penalty tariffs and EU sanctions.
According to the latest data, India’s imports of Russian oil in September saw a 16% decline from September 2024, a possible indicator that after three years of increasing its intake of discounted Russian oil multi-fold, the Modi government could be diversifying to other oil sources after facing 25% U.S. penalty tariffs on the issue.
