Putin’s visit to India pushed to December 24

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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.