Russian PM Putin to visit India next year

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will visit India in March next year at the invitation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

"I am very grateful to you for accepting my invitation in March next year. I am confident that your visit will give a new fillip to our ties," Dr Singh said a meeting with Putin in Moscow on Monday.

Dr Singh, who is on a three-day tour to Russia, pointed out that it was during then President Putin's maiden India visit in 2000 that the declaration of Indo-Russian strategic partnership had been signed.

"That was a historic visit, which laid the foundation of our relationship," Dr Singh said at the start of his parleys with Putin.