After a meeting of NSA Ajit Doval with Russian President Vladimir Putin, PM Narendra Modi spoke to Putin on Friday, reiterated his invitation to the President for the annual India-Russia Summit and underlined India’s constant position for peaceful resolution of Russia-Ukraine struggle.Dowal said on Thursday that Putin’s date of visit, which has been on the card since the end of last year, has been almost finalized. Modi’s conversation with Putin took place amidst India’s trade struggle with the US, which saw President Donald Trump putting an additional 25 percent tariff on India to import his energy from Russia, even though China continues to buy more than Moscow.According to an Indian readout, Putin informed Modi about the latest development related to war with Ukraine.The Indian statement said, “Thanking President Putin for his detailed evaluation, the Prime Minister repeated a relevant position of India for a peaceful solution to the struggle.” Putin is likely to meet Trump soon, as it was later worked for a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. It is in India’s interest that the war stops soon as it will complete Trump’s secondary sanctions against India.“The two leaders also reviewed the progress in the bilateral agenda, and confirmed their commitment to deepen the special and privileged strategic partnership between India and Russia,” the Government of India said, Modi invited Putin to India later this year for the 23rd India-Russian annual summit.“There was a very good and detailed conversation with my friend President Putin. I thanked him for sharing the latest events on Ukraine. We also reviewed the progress in our bilateral agenda, and confirmed our commitment to deepen the Indo-Russia special and privileged strategic partnership.
