Putin has only left Russia once during the pandemic – to meet US President Joe Biden in Geneva in June MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to India next month, in only his second trip abroad since the COVID-19 pandemic began two years ago, the Kremlin said Friday. Moscow said the Russian leader will go to India on December 6 for talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Putin has only left Russia once during the pandemic — to meet US President Joe Biden in Geneva in June. In a statement, the Kremlin said Putin and Modi will hold talks on furthering the “privileged strategic partnership” between Russia and India. It said the pair will discuss their “joint work” within the G20, BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) group, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) — an eight-member group that promotes itself as an antidote to Western geopolitical dominance. The talks are expected to be centered around the deliveries of Russia’s S-400 air defense systems and Sputnik V coronavirus vaccines to India. India is a major buyer of Russian military hardware. In 2018, it ordered Moscow’s S-400 missile defense system despite the threat of US sanctions over the $5.4-billion deal. India — home to the world’s biggest vaccine manufacturer — has also authorized Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine, in a boost to its inoculation drive. Earlier this month, Moscow said its foreign and defense ministers will be in New Delhi in December to meet their Indian counterparts.