Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forthcoming visit to India will be “extremely grand” and "fruitful", the Kremlin has said, reported news agency PTI on Sunday.
Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told VGTRK Russian State TV’s Kremlin correspondent, Pavel Zarubin, that India has been actively preparing for the visit.
“We and the Indian side are actively preparing for the visit and hope it will be fruitful in every sense. It will be an extremely grand (visit) because it’s even called a state visit,” Ushakov said in the interview.
“The visit provides an opportunity to put into practice the agreement between the prime minister of India and the Russian president that they will meet annually for a thorough discussion on both bilateral affairs and current international issues,” Ushakov said, according to PTI.
According to Ushakov, the dates for Putin's visit will be simultaneously announced in New Delhi and Moscow.
Putin is expected to visit India in the first week of December for the annual India-Russia summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Earlier on Tuesday, external affairs minister S Jaishankar met Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin and apprised him of preparations underway for the upcoming annual India-Russia summit, as reported by HT.
Putin shook hands with Jaishankar, receiving him in the Representative Office of the Senate Palace in the Kremlin. Jaishankar was accompanied by Indian Ambassador Vinay Kumar and Joint Secretary Mayank Singh.
The meeting was attended by Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Maxim Oreshkin, Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov, Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov, and Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko.