NSA Ajit Doval to visit Russia this week, take up Ukraine peace talks: Sources
National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval will visit Moscow from 10 to 11 September.
Where he will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and discuss peace efforts aimed at resolving the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, sources informed India Today TV. During his visit, the former bureaucrat will also take part in the BRICS-NSA meeting, sources added.
On the sidelines of the BRICS-NSA meeting, Doval will also hold bilateral meetings with his Russian and Chinese counterparts with the possibility of following up on the discussions from the July summit in Moscow. BRICS is an informal group of 10 nations comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iran, Egypt, and Ethiopia.
The last BRICS-NSA meeting was held in South Africa’s Johannesburg in 2023, where Doval also represented India.
During his telephonic conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi informed him that Doval would be visiting Moscow to discuss ideas related to peace following his trip to Ukraine.
The PM, however, did not specify a date or timing of Doval’s visit.
In August, PM Modi undertook a historic visit to Ukraine where he told President Volodymr Zelenskyy that “dialogue and diplomacy” were the only solution to end the war, offering to help personally as a friend for peace mediation with Russia.
“India was never neutral in this war, we are on the side of peace,” he was quoted as saying in a joint statement in Kyiv. PM Modi’s visit to Ukraine came after his headline-grabbing visit to Russia and a hug with President Putin drew sharp reactions from the West, as well as Zelenskyy.
The Ukrainian President had called the meeting a “huge disappointment and a devastating blow to peace efforts.”