Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Anurag Shrivastava said on Thursday that the India-Russia Annual Summit did not take place in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, reported PTI.

The comments came following a media report that said the two countries have not been able to hold their annual summit as Moscow has reservations over India joining the 4-nation Quad or Quadrilateral coalition.

Shrivastava said, “The India-Russia Annual summit did not take place in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This was a mutually agreed decision between the two governments.”

He added, “Any imputation otherwise is false and misleading. Spreading false stories on important relationships is particularly irresponsible.”

Also read: Russia registers new record of daily COVID-19 cases and deaths

Russian Ambassador to India Nikolay Kudashev slammed the report and said, “Find it to be far from reality. Special and privileged strategic partnership between Russia and India is progressing well despite the COVID-19.”

He added, “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.”