NEW DELHI, April 15: The resumption of menacing verbal exchanges between India and Pakistan has prompted the G-8 to put the issue on their agenda when the leaders of the world’s most industrialized nations meet in France in June, Indian news reports said on Tuesday.

Along with the stepped up wordy duel over notions of pre-emptive strikes by India against Pakistan and Islamabad’s claims of military preparedness to deal with the contingency, came reports on Tuesday of increased firing across the Line of Control in Kashmir.

“The worsening standoff between India and Pakistan will be one of the topics on the agenda of the forthcoming summit of Group of Eight in France, Press Trust of India (PTI) quoted the Russian foreign ministry as saying in Moscow on Tuesday.

The G-8 will discuss India-Pakistan standoff at the summit in Evian, France, in June, PTI quoted a press release from the ministry as saying.

It said the agenda for the G-8 was conveyed to the Indian Ambassador K Raghunath on Tuesday by Russian deputy foreign minister Georgy Mamedov who briefed him on the other key issues of the Evian summit.

The ministry release said: “The Indian strategic partners were briefed on the G-8 preparations at the request of Ambassador Raghunath”.

Mamedov is Russia’s pointman in the body preparing for the G-8 summit.

Mamedov and Raghunath also discussed Indo-Russian relations and key international issues like North Korean nuclear crisis and the Iraq war, the release said.

The Indian Express said on Tuesday that Indian Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal would be visiting Moscow later this month, his second visit to Russia during the current Iraq war.

“Mamedov and Raghunath expressed common understanding of the threat of radicalisation of the Islamic world as one of the consequences of the Gulf war,” the Russian ministry release said.

“They also focused on restoration of vital role of the United Nations in resolving key issues of international security and looking for effective and legitimate responses to the new challenges including terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction,” PTI said quoting the Russian ministry.

The Russian announcement came on the day when seven suspected Kashmiri militants and an army soldier died in violence in Kashmir where Indian and Pakistan troops also exchanged fire across the Line of Control.

Reports said an Indian woman was killed in the firing in the Jammu region.

Meanwhile, PTI said India’s first indigenous stealth warship, being constructed by Mazgaon Dock near Mumbai for the Indian Navy, will be launched on April 18 at a special function.