Ajit Doval Meets Putin; Reportedly Carried Ukraine Peace Plan

India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval met Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday on the sidelines of the BRICS National Security Advisers’ meeting.

The Russian Embassy in India shared a picture of the two exchanging a handshake.

Sources had said that Mr Doval’s visit to Russia would be aimed at resolving the Russia-Ukraine conflict. He was reportedly carrying PM Modi’s peace plan for President Putin.

NSA Doval’s visit to Russia comes two-and-a-half weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s historic visit to Ukraine. PM Modi said both Ukraine and Russia should sit together to end the ongoing war and that India was ready to play an “active role” to restore peace in the region.

In the talks, the Russian leader expressed hopes that PM Modi will travel to Russia’s Kazan next month to attend the annual BRICS summit.

Mr Putin also proposed to hold a bilateral meeting with PM Modi on October 22 on the sidelines of the BRICS summit, the Russian Embassy said in a statement released on Telegram.

“We are waiting for our good friend (Narendra) Modi and best regards to him,” the Russian media quoted Putin as saying in the meeting.

On Wednesday, Mr Doval had held wide-ranging talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu in St Petersburg and discussed important issues of “mutual interests”.