Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is expected to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in May for the annual Indo-Russian summit.

During Putin's December visit to India, Vajpayee had accepted the Russian president's invitation to attend St Petersburg's 300th anniversary celebrations in May, Kremlin sources said.

United States President George W Bush and new Chinese President Hu Jintao would be among several world leaders expected to join the celebrations in Putin's hometown, they said.

The summit meeting between Vajpayee and Putin could precede the celebrations and the dates are being worked out.

Since October 2000, when Putin first visited India, the summits have become an annual feature and are generally held towards the end of the year.

However, due to the elections to the State Duma [lower house of the Russian parliament] in September to be followed by the presidential election in March next year, it was decided to hold the summit earlier this year, the sources added.

Putin's December 2002 visit to India