The Kremlin reported on a telephone conversation between Putin and the Prime Minister of India

Russian President Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

“He (the president. – Approx. TASS) had an international telephone conversation with Narendra Modi,” Peskov said.

Formerly Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Andrey Rudenko declaredwhich Moscow considers a misunderstanding of the message about the refusal of the Indian prime minister to visit Russia, since such a visit was not originally planned.

December 9 Bloomberg, citing sources reportedthat Modi allegedly refused the annual meeting with the Russian president because of the situation around Ukraine. At the same time, on December 12, Peskov saidthat the meeting between Putin and Modi was not planned until the end of this year.

According to the declaration on strategic partnership between Russia and India of 2000, the leaders of the two countries hold meetings annually. In 2020 meeting did not take place due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2021 the Russian President visited New Delhi. This year, Putin and Modi last met in Samarkand in September. Then, on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, they held bilateral meeting.