-—If the landing is successful, India will become the fourth nation to accomplish a controlled soft landing on the moon, after the former Soviet Union, the United States and China.-—
Ahem - that’s after the UNITED STATES, the former Soviet Union, and China.
The writer is correct, chronologically. The Soviets and Chinese have not landed men on the moon, but all nations listed have soft-landed probes on the moon.
Specifically:
Luna 9
Launched 31 Jan 1966
Landed on Moon 03 Feb 1966 at 18:44:52 UT
Latitude 7.08 N, Longitude 295.63 E - Oceanus Procellarum
Soviet Russia’s Luna 9 probe was the first soft landing on the moon and the first to send back images from the lunar surface. The US’ first soft landing would be Surveyor I on 2 June 1966, several months later.