Decision to not hold India-Russia Annual Summit due to Covid-19 was mutually agreed, says MEA

New Delhi [India], December 23 (ANI): India on Wednesday said that the India-Russia annual summit did not take place in 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic and it was a mutually agreed decision between the governments of the two countries.
MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said in a statement that any imputation otherwise is false and misleading. He said, spreading false stories on important relationships is particularly irresponsible.
Srivastava said this in response to a media report regarding the India-Russia Annual Summit.
Russian Ambassador to India Nikolay Kudashev also tweeted today to say that the report published about the summit was "far from reality."
Reiterating the close bilateral ties with India, the Russian Ambassador said that he is in touch with Indian officials and is working out new dates for the summit postponed due to the pandemic.
"Staying in close touch with our Indian friends to work out new dates for the summit, postponed due to epidemiological reasons. We are confident that it will be held in the near future, while the Russian-Indian relations will continue its further development," Kudashev tweeted.
The Russian envoy also said that special and privileged strategic partnership between the two countries is progressing well despite the COVID-19. (ANI)