National Security Advisor Ajit Doval during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Konstantinovsky Palace, in St. Petersburg, Russia. The meeting took place on the margins of a conclave of national security advisors of the BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) nations in St Petersburg. (Image: PTI)
NSA Doval held a one-on-one meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the BRICS NSAs meeting.
Indian national security advisor Ajit Doval told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi wanted him to visit Russia and brief the Russian President on Modi’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
⚡️BREAKING: NSA Doval, per Modi’s request, briefed Putin on Indian PM’s meet with ZelenskyDoval witnessed their conversation firsthand, the meeting was conducted in a closed format
Modi asked Doval to come in person and brief Russian president on the talks pic.twitter.com/hkTUY30zkz
— Sputnik India (@Sputnik_India) September 12, 2024
“As the Prime Minister told you during the telephone conversation that he was keen to brief you about his visit to Ukraine and his meeting with President Zelensky. He wanted me to come, specially and personally, and brief you about the talks,” Doval said.
“The talks were held in a closed format. It was only the two leaders. I was with the Prime Minister. I attended the conversation,” he further added.
“His visit to Moscow was greatly successful and he was highly satisfied with the visit,” Doval was heard conveying to Putin in a video released by Russian media.
Doval met the Russian President at St Petersburg on the sidelines of the BRICS NSAs meeting.
The Putin-Doval meeting came nearly three weeks after Modi travelled to Ukranian capital Kyiv and held talks with Zelensky.
Last week, the Russian President, speaking at a panel discussion at the Eastern Economic Forum in the Russian city of Vladivostok named India, Brazil and China as possible intermediaries that could play a role in resolving the conflict.
In the meeting with Doval, Putin proposed a bilateral meeting with Modi on October 22 on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan next month.
The summit of the grouping will be held in Kazan from October 22-24. Modi is set to attend the summit.
In his talks with Zelensky, Modi said both Ukraine and Russia should sit together without wasting time to end the ongoing war and that India was ready to play an “active role” to restore peace in the region.
PM Modi said India was on the side of peace since the beginning of the conflict and he would even like to contribute personally for a peaceful resolution of the crisis.
Modi’s nearly nine-hour visit to Ukraine, the first by an Indian prime minister since its independence in 1991, came six weeks after he held summit talks with Putin in Moscow.
In the last few days, there have been calls for India’s potential role in pushing peace talks between Russia and Ukraine as New Delhi has good relations with both the nations.
India has been maintaining that the conflict in Ukraine must be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy.
