New Delhi, March 28 -- Russia is preparing for President Vladimir Putin's visit to India, the country's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday without giving a time frame for the trip.

Putin is expected to travel to India later this year, possibly in the second half, for an annual summit of the leaders of the two sides. This will be his first visit to India since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He last visited India in December 2021.

In a video address at a conference in Moscow with the theme of "Russia and India: Together towards a new bilateral agenda", Lavrov said: "It is symbolic that Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his first bilateral foreign visit after his re-election last year to Russia....