Indian NSA Ajit Doval met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday amidst new efforts for peace talks to end the Russia-Ukraine War. He briefed President Putin on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last month in Kyiv, detailing India’s understanding of the whole situation.
NSA Doval was in the Russian city of St. Petersburg for a meeting of senior security officials/National Security Advisors of BRICS, which is an international grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
His talks on Thursday with President Putin have attracted much global attention, given recent comments by Putin and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni that India and China can play a role in taking forward efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict. NSA Doval also held a separate meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu.
Footage beamed by Russia’s state-run media showed NSA Doval telling President Putin that he had come to Russia at the direction of PM Modi. Referring to a recent phone conversation between the Russian President and the Indian Prime Minister, Doval said, “He (Modi) was keen to brief you about his visit to Ukraine and his meeting with President Zelenskyy.
Doval added that PM Modi had asked him to “come specially and personally brief you [President Putin] on the talks. The talks were in a closed format; it was only the two leaders. He had two people with him, and I happened to be with the prime minister [Modi]. So, I witnessed that… conversation.”
The NSA was part of the delegation that accompanied PM Modi on his visit to Russia in July and to Ukraine in August this year and has been closely involved in discussions with both sides on ways to end hostilities and return to the path of dialogue and diplomacy.
At his meeting with Putin in July, Modi has said a solution to the Russia-Ukraine conflict couldn’t be found on the battlefield and talks cannot succeed under the shadow of the gun. Modi subsequently told Zelensyy in kyiv that a solution to the war in Ukraine can’t be found without engaging Russia.
In his meeting with the Indian NSA, President Putin has now proposed to meet with PM Modi on the sidelines of the BRICS Leaders Summit in Kazan next month.
In televised footage, Putin was heard saying, “I also suggest holding a bilateral meeting [with PM Modi] there [in Kazan] on October 22 in order to close the books on our joint work in implementing the agreements reached during his visit to Moscow and outline some prospects for the near future,” in Russian.
Modi’s visit to Russia was “highly successful” and “subsequent work is progressing very effectively”, Putin said. “Security issues have always been, and continue to be, among our top priorities,” he added.
A post on X by the Indian embassy only said NSA Doval met Putin on PM Modi’s directions and discussed issues of mutual interest in the spirit of the bilateral special and privileged strategic partnership but didn’t give details.
The NSA also held a separate meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in St. Petersburg, during which the two sides agreed to “redouble their efforts” for complete disengagement at remaining friction points on the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Importantly, Wang Yi also holds the post of Foreign Minister in the Chinese Government.
The Indian and Chinese NSA talks came close on the heels of two meetings of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) on India–China border affairs and two other separate meetings between External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar and Wang Yi on the sidelines of multilateral gatherings in July this year.
India’s External Affairs Ministry said in an official readout that the meeting between NSA Doval and Foreign Minister Wang Yi was an opportunity for the two sides to review recent efforts towards “creating conditions to stabilise and rebuild bilateral relations”.
“Both sides agreed to work with urgency and redouble their efforts to realise complete disengagement in the remaining areas [of the LAC],” the readout said.
India and China have so far pulled back frontline troops from both banks of Pangong Lake, Gogra and Hot Spring in Ladakh, but have been unable to resolve their difference on “friction points” at Depsang and Demchok even after dozens of rounds of diplomatic and military talks.
NSA Doval told Wang Yi that peace and tranquillity in the border areas and respect for the LAC are “essential for normalcy in bilateral relations”. He said, “Both sides must fully abide by relevant bilateral agreements, protocols, and understandings reached in the past by the two governments.”
The two sides agreed the India-China relationship is significant not just for the two countries but for the region and the world, the readout said. The two sides also exchanged views on the global and regional situation.
The talks between Doval and Wang Yi could also prepare the grounds for a possible meeting between PM Modi and President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Kazan in October. “The coming weeks will be essential in deciding on whether there will be a meeting between the top leadership of India and China in Kazan,” people familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity.
