In short:
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Russia on July 8 and 9 to hold official talks with President Vladimir Putin.
It is Mr Modi's first trip to the Kremlin in five years, and the leaders' first since they last met on the sidelines of a summit in Uzbekistan in 2022.
What's next?
India and Russia have shared a solid relationship built on weapons agreements for many years, but Moscow's tight-knit ties with Delhi's rival Beijing of late have created friction.
The Kremlin says India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Russia on July 8 and hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russian officials first announced the visit last month, but the dates have not been previously disclosed until the Kremlin made the announcement, on Thursday, local time.
India and Russia have shared strong ties since the Cold War, but New Delhi's importance as a key trading partner for Moscow has grown since the Kremlin invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
China and India have become key buyers of Russian oil following sanctions imposed by the US and its' allies that shut most Western markets for Russian exports.
Under Mr Modi's leadership, India has avoided condemning Russia's action in Ukraine while emphasising the need for a peaceful settlement.
The partnership between the nation has become fraught of late, however, since Russia started strengthening relations with China, India's main rival, over hostilities in Ukraine.
On Thursday, Mr Modi skipped the summit of a security grouping created by Moscow and Beijing to counter Western alliances
He sent his foreign minister to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) at its' annual meeting in Kazakhstan's capital of Astana, which is being attended by Mr Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Indian media reports speculated their recently re-elected prime minister was busy with the parliament session last week.
Relationship built on defence procurement
Mr Modi last visited Russia in 2019 for an economic forum in the far eastern port of Vladivostok. He last travelled to Moscow in 2015.
The Indian and Russian leaders last met in September 2022 at a summit of the SCO in Uzbekistan. In 2021, Mr Putin also travelled to New Delhi and held talks with the Indian leader.
Tensions between Beijing and New Delhi have continued since a confrontation in June 2020 along the disputed China-India border in which rival troops fought with rocks, clubs and fists, where at least 20 Indian troops and four Chinese soldiers were killed.
After his re-election to a third straight term, Mr Modi attended the G7 meeting in Italy's Apulia region last month and addressed artificial intelligence, energy, and regional issues in Africa and the Mediterranean.
In the early 1990s, the Soviet Union was the source of about 70 per cent of Indian army weapons, 80 per cent of its air force systems and 85 per cent of its navy platforms.
India bought its first aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya, from Russia in 2004. It had served in the former Soviet Union and later in the Russian navy.
With the Russian supply line hit by the fighting in Ukraine, India has been reducing its dependency on Russian arms and diversifying its defence procurements, buying more from the US, Israel, France and Italy.
New arms deal signed ahead of visit
Russia's vast state-owned Rostec corporation said on Thursday its' weapons export unit had organised the production in India of armour-piercing rounds for Russian-made battle tanks.
The "Mango" projectiles that will be made in India are designed to be fired from the guns of T-72 and T-90 tanks which India's land forces use, Rostec said in a statement.
"The rounds allow you to hit modern tanks equipped with combined protection. Various modifications of these combat vehicles are in service with India."
Rostec said it also had plans to localise the production of gunpowder in India as part of the Indian government's drive to have more foreign goods made in India.
Moscow has long supplied the Indian military with equipment.
AP/Reuters