NSA Ajit Doval holds talks with Russian counterpart in St Petersburg

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval has held wide-ranging talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu in St Petersburg and discussed important issues of “mutual interests” amid fresh calls for India’s possible role in finding a solution to the Ukraine conflict.

The Doval-Shoigu meeting on Wednesday evening took place on the margins of a conclave of national security advisors of the BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) nations.

It is understood that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on August 23 figured in the talks between the two NSAs.

“Both sides reviewed progress in bilateral cooperation and discussed important issues of mutual interest,” the Indian embassy in Russia said on the talks between Doval and Shoigu.

Doval’s visit to Russia comes two-and-half weeks after Prime Minister Modi paid a high-profile trip to Ukrainian capital Kyiv.

In his talks with Zelenskyy, Modi said both Ukraine and Russia should sit together without wasting time to end the ongoing war and that India was ready to play an “active role” to restore peace in the region.

The prime minister said India was on the side of peace since the beginning of the conflict and he would even like to contribute personally for a peaceful resolution of the crisis.

Modi’s nearly nine-hour visit to Ukraine, the first by an Indian prime minister since its independence in 1991, came six weeks after he held summit talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

In the last few days, there has been calls for India’s potential role in pushing peace talks between Russia and Ukraine as New Delhi has good relations with both the nations.

On Saturday, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni following her talks with Zelenskyy said India and China can play a role in finding a solution to the dragging conflict.

Russian President Putin, speaking at a panel discussion at the Eastern Economic Forum in the Russian city of Vladivostok last Thursday, named India, Brazil and China as possible intermediaries that could play a role in resolving the conflict.

“First of all, it is the Chinese People’s Republic, Brazil and India — I am in contact with my partners and I have no doubt that the leaders of these countries — and we have relations of trust and confidence with one another — will be really interested and provide a helping hand,” he said.

His remarks came in response to a question on possible countries that can act as a mediator between Russia and Ukraine.

India has been maintaining that the conflict in Ukraine must be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy.