He will also meet the ruling Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi and Sushma Swaraj, the leader of BJP opposition party. The Kremlin said this week that Putin will discuss "concrete steps to further develop strategic partnership" in trade, investment, military and energy policy.
The trip will be Putin's first to South Asia since his return to the Kremlin in May. Dmitry Medvedev met with Prime Minister Singh in New Delhi in late March, shortly before stepping down from his presidency. Putin last travelled to India in 2010, when he was prime minister. India is one of Russia's key partners, which Putin often praises for sharing Moscow's geopolitical vision of a multipolar world. Putin will be eager to show Russia's ally, now the world's largest arms importer, that it is a key and desirable partner, said Fyodor Lukyanov, who chairs the Russian council on foreign and defence policy, an independent organisation.