NSA Ajit Doval will leave to Russia to participate in a meeting of Brics national security advisors, ahead of the summit in Oct in Kazan.
According to Russian authorities, PM Narendra Modi in his recent phone conversation with President Vladimir Putin had expressed readiness to participate in the Brics summit that will see him visiting Russia for the second time this year, after the bilateral visit in July.
The NSAs’ meeting is held every year by the host country, which holds the rotating presidency, in the lead up to the Brics summit. Russia holds the presidency this year. The ‘Meeting of Brics and Brics Plus High-Level Security Officials’ will be held in St. Petersburg on 10-12 Sept.
India also participated in a meeting of Brics Sherpa and Sous Sherpa last week in Russia. The Brics engagement takes place against the backdrop of renewed efforts to bring the Russia-Ukraine war to an end.
Significantly, Putin had said last week that three Brics countries - India, China and Brazil - can be trusted to mediate in the conflict.
The meeting of top security officials will discuss the conflict, with Doval likely to reiterate Modi’s stated intention of actively supporting any initiative for a diplomatic solution. During his recent visit to Ukraine, Modi had urged President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to talk to Putin, underscoring India’s position that it’s important to involve both sides in any effort for enduring peace.
Doval is expected to have several bilateral meetings with his counterparts. He had met China’s Wang Yi, member of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Political Bureau, on the sidelines of the same meeting in Johannesburg in 2023 and conveyed to him that the situation along the LAC in eastern Ladakh since 2020 had eroded strategic trust of the relationship.
