NSA Ajit Doval meets Russian President Putin in Moscow at BRICS summit

On the sidelines of the BRICS National Security Advisers’ meeting in St Petersburg, Russia, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and exchanged a handshake.

The Russian Embassy in India shared pictures on X and said, “On September 12, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin had a meeting with Ajit Doval, National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of India, at the Konstantinovsky Palace in St Petersburg.”

In a statement released on Telegram, the Russian Embassy in India said that during his meeting with NSA Doval, President Putin praised the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between India and Russia and emphasised the crucial role of security issues in bilateral relations.

“During the conversation, Vladimir Putin noted the successful development of the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between India and Russia and stressed the importance of security issues in bilateral relations, thanking the Indian side for maintaining dialogue in this area,” the statement said.

Russia’s President proposed to hold a bilateral meeting with PM Narendra Modi on October 22, on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Kazan to summarise the outcomes of joint work on the implementation of the agreements reached during his visit to Moscow and to outline prospects for the near future, the statement added.

Ajit Doval, in turn, conveyed the words of gratitude from PM Modi and also informed about PM Modi’s readiness to share information on his recent visit to Ukraine.

Earlier in the day, Doval had a bilateral meeting with Sergei Shoigu, Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, on the sidelines of the BRICS NSAs meeting in St Petersburg.

Both sides reviewed progress in bilateral cooperation and discussed important issues of mutual interest.

Russia is holding the BRICS chairmanship for the year 2024. BRICS is an informal group of states comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, with new members Egypt, Iran, UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Ethiopia joining the grouping in 2023. NSA Doval had participated in the 13th BRICS NSA meeting in Johannesburg in July 2023.

Notably, in July, Prime Minister Narendra Modi went to Russia and hailing the relationship between both nations, PM Modi asserted that their ties are important not just for India and Russia but for the entire world. He had said, “In the context of today’s global atmosphere, India and Russia partnership becomes all the more important. Both of us believe that continuous efforts should be made for global stability and peace. In the time to come, we will work together towards this.”

The Prime Minister also asserted that in the past 2.5 decades, the relationship between India and Russia under the leadership of Putin has strengthened. “He said, “Under your (Putin) leadership, India-Russia relations have strengthened in all directions and have scaled new heights each time. The foundation of strategic ties between the two nations that you had laid has only further strengthened over time.”