The Indian official will be arriving in Moscow in the coming week, according to India Today
Russian President Vladimir Putin will discuss New Delhi’s efforts to settle the conflict between Moscow and Kiev with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, sources have told India Today.
Doval is scheduled to visit the Russian capital on Tuesday and Wednesday, the broadcaster said in an article on Sunday.
While in Moscow, Doval “will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and discuss peace efforts aimed at resolving the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war,” the report read.
According to the media outlet’s sources, the Indian national security adviser will also attend a meeting of BRICS security officials and hold separate talks with Russian and Chinese representatives.
The report of Doval’s trip to Russia comes on the heels of a major diplomatic effort by Modi to find a peaceful settlement to the conflict between Moscow and Kiev.
In July, Modi visited Moscow and relayed that he and Putin were able to exchange views on the crisis in an “open manner.” The Russian leader, for his part, thanked the prime minister for trying to find a way to resolve the conflict.
The trip prompted an angry reaction from Kiev, with Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky calling it “a huge disappointment and a devastating blow to peace efforts.”
Last month, Modi landed in Ukraine for talks with Zelensky, becoming the first Indian leader to visit the country. While in Kiev, the prime minister stressed that “dialogue and diplomacy” were the only means to end the fighting. He told the Ukrainian leader that “India was never neutral in this war, we are on the side of peace.” According to Bloomberg, Modi has also agreed to “pass messages” between the two sides.
Earlier this week, Putin singled out China, Brazil and India as possible mediators in the settlement of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. “I have no doubt that the leaders of these countries – we have trustful relations with them – are genuinely keen to help sort out all the details of this complicated process,” he said.
READ MORE: US slaps Indian firms with anti-Russia sanctions
The Russian leader reiterated that Moscow had “never refused” negotiations with Kiev, but stressed that they should take place “not on the basis of some ephemeral demands but on the basis of the documents that were agreed and actually initialized in Istanbul.”
The two sides have not directly communicated with each other since their sit-down in Türkiye’s largest city in late March 2022. Russia, which initially expressed satisfaction with the results of the meeting and withdrew its forces from the outskirts of Kiev as a goodwill gesture, later accused Ukraine of backtracking on all progress achieved in Istanbul, saying it had lost trust in Kiev’s negotiators.
