Putin’s visit to India pushed to December 24

Oct 23, 2012 |

New Delhi

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Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India for the 13th annual India-Russia summit has been postponed.

Slated to be in India on November 1, the Russian leader will only be here now on December 24.

Announcing the dates for the Russian leader’s visit, the ministry of external affairs in a terse one-liner on Monday said that Putin “will pay an official visit to India on 24 December, 2012, for the 13th Annual India-Russia Summit”.

While Mr Putin’s delayed visit may be attributed to “domestic reasons”, there is speculation whether the on-going controversy over the Russian-built Kudankulam nuclear plant in Tamil Nadu, the continuing delay on the part of the Russians to make available to India the re-fitted Gorshkov even as its cost escalates (it’s now estimated to be $2.33 billion) and the differences over Sistema Shyam’s telecom investments in India may have frayed bilateral relations between two countries with traditionally close ties.

While no official announcement had been made thus far by the ministry regarding the November dates, it was fairly evident that Mr Putin would be here in just a few days when Russian deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin came to New Delhi as part of the run-up to the President’s visit.

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