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Russian President Vladimir Putin has questioned Washington’s stance on India’s oil purchases from Moscow, pointing to US imports of Russian nuclear fuel as he began a state visit aimed at strengthening ties between the two nations, Aljazeera reported.

Putin arrived in New Delhi on Thursday evening to a warm airport reception from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who embraced the Russian leader in a rare gesture that underscored their personal rapport.

The visit comes as India faces mounting pressure from US President Donald Trump, who has imposed punitive tariffs on Indian goods over New Delhi’s purchases of discounted Russian crude, according to Aljazeera.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold summit talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Friday, aiming to boost trade with the top buyer of Russia’s arms and seaborne oil as Western sanctions squeeze their decades-old ties, Reuters reported.

Putin is on his first visit to India in four years at a time when New Delhi is engaged in talks with the U.S. for a trade deal to cut punitive tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump on its goods over India’s Russian oil purchases.

Moscow has been India’s top arms supplier for decades and has said that it wants to import more Indian goods in an effort to grow trade to $100 billion by 2030 that so far has been skewed in its favour due to New Delhi’s energy imports, according to Reuters.

The leaders of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda have signed a peace deal aimed at ending the long-running conflict in the region at a summit hosted by US President Donald Trump in Washington, BBC reported. 

Ahead of the summit, there was an escalation in fighting in resource-rich eastern DR Congo between government forces and rebels believed to be backed by Rwanda. 

DR Congo's army accused its rivals of attempting to "sabotage" the peace process, but the M23 rebels said the army had launched an offensive in breach of a ceasefire, according to BBC.

Federica Mogherini, the EU's foreign policy chief until 2019, has resigned from a leading role in Belgium after she was detained for questioning and accused in connection with an anti-corruption investigation, BBC reported. 

The investigation, ordered by the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO), related to suspected fraud involving the award of an EU-funded training for junior diplomats to the College of Europe.

Ms Mogherini, 52, was head of the highly regarded institute based in Bruges. She was questioned this week along with another staff member at the college and a senior official from the European Commission, Stefano Sannino, according to BBC.