Olympic flame for Milan Cortina Winter Games arrives in Italy following handover in Greece

ROME (AP) — The Olympic flame for the Milan Cortina Winter Games landed in Rome on Thursday following a handover in Greece.

The flame was carried in a small lantern aboard an ITA Airways flight between the Greek and Italian capitals.

Tennis player Jasmine Paolini — an Olympic gold medalist — and local organizing committee president Giovanni Malagò carried the flame off the plane.

“I feel honored. It’s an incredible emotion,” Paolini said in brief remarks before the lantern was driven away toward the presidential palace.

A 63-day torch relay covering 12,000 kilometers (nearly 7,500 miles) will start in Rome on Saturday and wind its way through all 110 Italian provinces before reaching Milan’s San Siro Stadium for the opening ceremony on Feb. 6.

It’s the first time in nearly 20 years — since the 2006 Turin Games — that Italy has hosted the flame.

On Friday, the flame will be used to light a cauldron at the Quirinale Palace where Italy President Sergio Mattarella resides, with International Olympic Committee president Kirsty Coventry expected to be in attendance.

Then the torch relay — featuring 10,001 torch bearers — will start a day later from the statue-lined Stadio dei Marmi.

The flame was formally handed to Italian organizers earlier Thursday in the all-marble stadium in central Athens where the first modern Olympics were held nearly 130 years ago.

“To stand here in this historic stadium provides an inspiring reminder of the honor we have been granted and the precious treasure we will carry home with us,” Malagò said before receiving the flame.

After spending the night burning in a cauldron outside the 5th century B.C. Parthenon temple atop the Acropolis, Greece’s most famous landmark, the flame was carried into the Panathenaic stadium by Greek water polo player Elena Xenaki, who lit another cauldron in the stadium along with Greece’s women’s national water polo team.

The flame was lit on Nov. 26 in Ancient Olympia, the site of the ancient games that inspired the modern Olympic movement, using a concave mirror to focus the sun’s rays on a torch in a highly ceremonial performance.

The torch relay, which includes 60 city celebrations, will be in Naples for Christmas and in Bari for New Year’s Eve. It will reach 2006 host Turin on Jan 11.

The torch will arrive in Verona on Jan. 18 and pass through Cortina d’Ampezzo on Jan. 26 — on the 70th anniversary of the opening ceremony of the 1956 Winter Olympics held at the resort in the Dolomites.

There will also be a cauldron lit in Cortina on the night of the opening ceremony.

These games will be held across a large swath of northern Italy and the ceremony will be observed in four different locations, including Livigno (where snowboarding and freestyle skiing will be contested) and Predazzo (ski jumping).

Skating sports will be held in Milan; men’s Alpine skiing and ski mountaineering in Bormio; and women’s Alpine skiing, sliding sports and curling in Cortina.

The idea of the Olympic flame and torch relay was the result of Greek-German cooperation and began ahead of the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany. The tradition has been followed ever since.

A separate flame for the March 6–15 Winter Paralympics will be lit on Feb. 24 at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in England, the birthplace of the Paralympic movement.

Becatoros reported from Athens, Greece. AP Sports Writer Andrew Dampf contributed.

AP Winter Olympics at https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

President of the Milano Cortina Organising Committee Giovanni Malago, right, and Italian Olympic medalist tennis player Jasmine Paolini hold a lantern with the Olympic flame as they arrive at Rome's International airport Leonardo da Vinci from Athens, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

President of the Milano Cortina Organising Committee Giovanni Malago, right, and Italian Olympic medalist tennis player Jasmine Paolini hold a lantern with the Olympic flame as they arrive at Rome's International airport Leonardo da Vinci from Athens, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Italian Olympic medalists tennis player Jasmine Paolini holds a torch during the Olympic flame handover ceremony for the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics at Panathenaic stadium, in Athens, Greece, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

Greek actress Mary Mina, playing the role of High Priestess, lights a torch from the cauldron during the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics flame handover ceremony at Panathenaic stadium, in Athens, Greece, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

Greek actress Mary Mina, playing the role of High Priestess, lights a torch from the cauldron during the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics flame handover ceremony at Panathenaic stadium, in Athens, Greece, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

The Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic flame on a flight to Rome Fiumicino departing from Athens, Greece, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. (Claudio Furlan/LaPresse via AP)

President of the Milano Cortina Organising Committee Giovanni Malago, right, and Italian Olympic medalist tennis player Jasmine Paolini hold a lantern with the Olympic flame as they arrive at Rome's International airport Leonardo da Vinci from Athens, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Italian Olympic medalists tennis player Jasmine Paolini, right, lights a torch from World Wrestling Champion Giorgos Kougioumtsidis, left, during the Olympic flame handover ceremony for the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics at Panathenaic stadium, in Athens, Greece, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025.(AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

Greek Women's National Water polo player Elena Xenaki, left, lights the cauldron during the Olympic flame handover ceremony for the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics at Panathenaic stadium, in Athens, Greece, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

Greece, Olympic and Italy flags, from left, wave during the Olympic flame handover ceremony for the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics at Panathenaic stadium, in Athens, Greece, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Olympic Gold Medalist rower Stefanos Ntouskos lights a cauldron with the Olympic flame in front of the ancient Parthenon temple atop of Acropolis hill during the Olympic torch relay for the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, in Athens, Greece, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

Greek Women's National Water polo player Elena Xenaki lights the cauldron during the Olympic flame handover ceremony for the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics at Panathenaic stadium, in Athens, Greece, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

NEW DELHI (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin landed in India Thursday on a state visit aimed at bolstering bilateral and economic ties between the two countries.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi received the Russian leader at an airport in New Delhi, giving a bear hug and a tight handshake with the gusto of an old friend.

Modi will host Putin for a private dinner Thursday night at his decked-up official residence.

On Friday, the two leaders will hold talks as part of the 23rd India-Russia Summit and discuss deepening economic cooperation, mainly in defense, energy and the mobility of skilled labor.

Putin’s visit comes at a sensitive time in global politics when there is a renewed push by the U.S. on a peace deal to bring the Russia-Ukraine war to an end. The visit will test New Delhi’s efforts to balance relations with Moscow and Washington as the nearly four-year war in Ukraine grinds on.

Critics say while India has historically maintained deep ties with Russia. Putin’s visit could ruffle feathers among anti-Moscow nations and potentially jeopardize New Delhi’s negotiations for major trade agreements with the European Union and the United States, deals seen as critical for boosting India’s exports.

Putin last visited India in 2021. Modi was in Moscow last year, and the two leaders briefly met in September in China during a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit.

Before his visit, Putin told India Today — an Indian media group — in an interview that Russia had plans to cooperate with India in “the most important areas: cutting-edge technology, space exploration and nuclear energy,” Russian state news agency Tass reported.

Putin acknowledged that heavy sanctions on Russia’s economy caused “certain difficulties,” but said that there were solutions and that countries that tried to hinder third-country trade would “ultimately suffer losses themselves.”

“India is a great power, not a British colony. And everyone will have to accept that,” Putin was quoted as saying by Tass.

Putin referred to Modi as a friend.

Bilateral trade stood at $68.7 billion in the last fiscal year that ended in March, according to Indian government data. The two countries are looking to reach $100 billion by 2030. At present, trade is heavily skewed in favor of Russia with deep deficits for India.

India’s exports stood at a marginal $4.88 billion, while imports were at $63.84 billion, largely led by inbound shipments of Russian crude.

Indian officials said that New Delhi was working with Moscow to bridge the deficit and boost exports across sectors, including marine products, agriculture, automobiles and pharmaceuticals.

Multiple agreements were expected Friday in shipping, health care, fertilizers, connectivity and labor mobility — which would give impetus to both relations and trade, they said.

Russia continues to be India’s biggest supplier of military hardware, despite New Delhi trying to diversify its purchases from other countries over the past few years.

Hours before the Russian President landed, his Defense Minister Andrei Belousov co-chaired an intergovernmental commission on military and technical cooperation with Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh.

A readout from the Indian defense ministry said that Singh stressed new opportunities to enhance collaboration with Russia across niche technologies while Belousov offered support to help New Delhi become self-reliant in defense production.

Defense cooperation is expected to be at the core of the discussion when Putin and Modi hold talks.

India is expected to push Russia for faster delivery of two further S-400 surface-to-air missile systems, after receiving three under a 2018 deal worth about $5.4 billion. The delay has been tied to supply chain disruptions linked to the war in Ukraine.

Indian authorities are also exploring the possibility of acquiring additional S-400 units or an upgraded variant, though no contract or announcement is expected during Putin’s visit.

Indian defense planners say the S-400 proved effective during a brief military standoff with Pakistan in May.

Talks are also expected on upgrading India’s Russian-made Su-30MKI fighter jets and accelerating deliveries of critical military hardware, as well as improving coordination on joint exercises and disaster relief.

Moscow is keen on selling its stealth fighter jet Su-57 to India, but New Delhi has kept its options open to other foreign suppliers as well.

Washington has been critical of India buying discounted Russian oil, which it says helps finance Moscow’s war machine. In August, U.S. President Donald Trump imposed additional 25% tariffs on Indian imports, raising the total duties to 50% in retaliation.

India has defended its imports as essential for meeting the growing energy needs of its 1.4 billion people. The matter is expected to come up for detailed discussion.

In October, the U.S. sanctioned two of Moscow’s biggest oil producers, in a move aimed at forcing countries like India to cut down on imports.

Indian officials say New Delhi has always abided by international sanctions and will do so in the case of Russian oil purchase too. However, options remain open to source from entities that aren’t in the sanction net yet.

Praveen Donthi, senior analyst for India at International Crisis Group, said that the summit would offer opportunities for India and Russia to reaffirm their relationship amid intense pressure from Trump, who imposed steep tariffs to punish New Delhi for importing Russian oil.

“While this pressure has succeeded in getting New Delhi to reduce its crude oil imports from Russia, it will continue to uphold defense with Moscow, especially amid tensions with China and Pakistan,” Donthi said.

Katie Marie Davies contributed to this report from Manchester, England.

Men walk past a billboard with portraits of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, hours before the scheduled arrival of the latter in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. (AP Photo)