NSA Ajit Doval briefs Putin on PM Modi's Ukraine peace efforts in one-on-one meeting

The meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Doval took place during the Indian NSA’s visit to Russia for the BRICS National Security Advisors' conference.

Updated on: Sep 12, 2024, 20:40:20 IST

By Shishir Gupta

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India's national security advisor Ajit Doval met Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday at the Konstantinovsky Palace, where he conveyed a message from Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding his recent visit to Ukraine. Doval informed Putin that Modi had expressed a desire to brief the Russian leader about his talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

NSA Ajit Doval in a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“He was keen to brief you about his visit to Ukraine and his meeting with President Zelenskyy,” Doval told Putin. “He wanted me to come especially and personally to brief you about the talks. The conversation was in a very close format—only the two leaders. I attended the conversation.”

Also Read | NSA Ajit Doval holds talks with Russian counterpart in St Petersburg

The meeting between Putin and Doval took place during the Indian NSA’s visit to Russia for the BRICS National Security Advisors' conference. Putin used the occasion to propose a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Modi on October 22, during the upcoming BRICS Summit in Kazan, to discuss the outcomes of their previous discussions and to outline future prospects.

During the conversation, President 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, according to a readout from the Kremlin.

Also Read | BRICS NSAs meet: Ajit Doval calls for joint efforts against terrorism, digital threats

Doval’s visit comes after Modi's diplomatic efforts to address the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. During his trip to Kyiv in August, Modi shared “interesting ideas” with Zelenskyy that had been discussed during his July meeting with Putin. Doval, who accompanied Modi on both the Russia and Ukraine visits, is deeply involved in these peace initiatives, which aim to find a solution to the conflict.

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

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shishir Gupta
Shishir Gupta is Executive Editor at Hindustan Times and one of India's top journalists covering national security, strategic affairs, foreign policy and geopolitics. Over the past three decades, he has extensively reported on India's military, diplomatic and security landscape, covering every major conflict and national security challenge, from the 1999 Kargil War and the 2020 East Ladakh standoff to Operation Sindoor in 2025. He has also covered major terror attacks, including the IC-814 hijacking, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and the 2025 Pahalgam terror strike, along with numerous Pakistan-backed terrorist incidents in the Kashmir Valley and across India. He has reported on national and state elections for more than three decades. A recognised authority on strategic affairs, Gupta has covered India's nuclear programme since the Pokhran-II (Shakti series) tests in May 1998 and has written extensively on global nuclear issues, Indian diplomacy and the country's expanding global outreach. He has also reported widely on international conflicts and terrorism, with a special focus on the Indian subcontinent. Gupta has interviewed Prime Minister Narendra Modi more than four times, including Modi's first interview with the print media after becoming Prime Minister in May 2014. His other interviews include three with the Dalai Lama, as well as conversations with Benjamin Netanyahu, Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath, S. Jaishankar, Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal. He is the author of Indian Mujahideen: The Enemy Within (Hachette, 2011) and Himalayan Face-off: Chinese Assertion and Indian Riposte (Hachette, 2014). He was awarded the Chevening-Wolfson Joint Scholarship at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, UK, in 1998 and participated in the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) of the US State Department in 2006. He received the Ben Gurion Prize from Israel in 2011 and the K. Subrahmanyam Prize for Strategic Studies in 2015 from the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA). Since 2024, he has hosted Point Blank, Hindustan Times' weekly YouTube show on global geopolitics.Read More

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