Putin's upcoming India visit to be grand and fruitful, says Yuri Ushakov

President Vladimir Putin's forthcoming visit to India will be extremely grand and "fruitful", Russian State TV said on Sunday quoting Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov.

We and the Indian side are actively preparing for the visit and hope it will be fruitful in every sense. It will be an extremely grand (visit) because it's even called a state visit, Ushakov said, in an interview to VGTRK Russian State TV's Kremlin correspondent Pavel Zarubin.

The visit provides an opportunity to put into practice the agreement between the prime minister of India and the Russian president that they will meet annually for a thorough discussion on both bilateral affairs and current international issues, Ushakov said.

According to him the dates will be simultaneously announced in New Delhi and Moscow closer to the visit.

Last Monday while welcoming External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Putin's New Delhi visit will take place in three weeks.

Sources here indicate that the 23rd India-Russia Summit will be held on December 5.