Putin's visit to India delayed until late December - newspaper
MOSCOW. Oct 24 (Interfax) - A visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to New Delhi, which has been scheduled for next week, is delayed until December 24, Kommersant said on Wednesday.
The Indian Foreign Ministry was the first to report the sudden delay of the Russian-Indian summit, the newspaper said. The ministry reported that Putin would pay an official visit to India on December 24 to take part in the 13th Russian-Indian summit.
Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov confirmed the delay to the newspaper. "Every item on the bilateral agenda will be ready by then so that the visit is action-packed," he said.
Kommersant sources close to the Indian government said the delay of the visit was not accidental: the 13th summit had run the risk of being the least efficient and the most problematic.
There is not a single breakthrough document in the package prepared for signing at the summit, and the discussion of a number of key trade and economic cooperation issues has come into an impasse, the sources told the newspaper.
