Lavrov and Belousov to visit India ahead of Putin's visit

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is expected to pay an official visit to India before Russian President Vladimir Putin's trip. This was reported to Izvestia on May 21 at the Indian Embassy in the Russian Federation.

It is specified that an intergovernmental commission meeting will be held later, at which the Russian side will be represented by Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov.

In addition, Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov will visit India "at some point" to discuss military and military-technical cooperation with the Indian side in the long term.

"Our relations in the military-technical sphere will only develop"

Indian Ambassador to Russia Vinay Kumar — on trade with Russia, joint production of missiles, conflict with Pakistan and mediation in the Ukrainian settlement

On May 5, Putin held telephone talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during which the leaders discussed the terrorist attack in Pahalgam, India. According to the official representative of the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Randhir Jaiswal, the Russian president expressed support to the head of the Indian government in the fight against terrorism.

On March 27, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced the preparations for the visit of the Russian president to India. He noted that the Russian leader had accepted the invitation of the head of the Indian government to visit New Delhi. On February 18, Russia and India signed an agreement to simplify cooperation between the two countries' defense ministries in organizing joint events.