Russian President Vladimir Putin is likely to visit India next year as part of a laid down structure between the two countries for reciprocal annual visits by their leaders, diplomatic sources said on Tuesday. The two sides are looking at the possibility of the visit but nothing has been finalised yet, they said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited the Russian President to visit India when the two leaders held summit talks in Moscow in July.  Prime Minister Modi visited Kazan in Russia last month to attend the BRICS summit.

Earlier on Tuesday, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov in a video interaction with senior Indian Editors referred to the strong bilateral relationship between India and Russia, and added Putin's visit is on the cards. He did not give any specific dates or make a definitive announcement of the visit. The interaction was organised by the Russian state-owned Sputnik news agency.

"We are looking forward to the visit. The dates will be mutually worked out soon," Peskov said.  "Specific dates of President Vladimir Putin's visit to India will soon be announced and Russia will begin preparing for it," he said.

"I hope soon we'll work out the precise dates of his visit... Of course, after two visits of Prime Minister Modi to Russia, now we have a visit of the President to India, so we're looking forward to it," he added.

Last month, Prime Minister Modi visited Russia's Kazan for the annual summit of the leaders of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) group of nations. The two leaders held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the summit.

Asked to comment on United States President Joe Biden's decision to let Ukraine strike targets inside Russia with US-supplied longer-range missiles, Peskov warned it will add fuel to the conflict and escalate the war.

Peskov's comments came on a day when President Putin signed a revised nuclear doctrine declaring that a conventional attack on Russia by any nation that is supported by a nuclear power will be considered a joint attack on his country. Putin's endorsement of the new nuclear deterrent policy comes on the 1,000th day after he sent troops into Ukraine on Feb 24, 2022.