NSA Ajit Doval likely to visit Moscow for Russia-Ukraine peace talks: Report

While all eyes are on India to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine, National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval is likely to visit Moscow this week to participate in discussions to help both the warring nations strike a peace deal and end a war that has lasted for over two years now, reports said.

India’s decision to send its NSA to Russia comes following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Ukraine and meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenkskyy last month and subsequent talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The development also comes days after Putin proposed fresh parleys to end the war and wanted India, Brazil and China to play mediators.

Modi’s call to Putin

Reports say Prime Minister Modi during his phone call to Putin on August 27 had told him that he would send Doval to Russia.

A statement released by the Russian Embassy said that during the conversation on the phone, Modi briefed Putin on his visit to Ukraine and reasserted his government’s thrust on resolving the conflict through diplomacy.

It was reportedly during this phone call that it was decided to send Doval to Moscow for the peace talks.

India’s stress on dialogue, diplomacy

Following Modi’s visit to Ukraine, the External Affairs Ministry, expressing the government’s stand on the war, had said that India “would support any feasible and mutually acceptable solution or format that could restore peace.”

Modi after his meeting with Zeleneskyy had also reiterated the Indian government’s suggestion to end the conflict through diplomacy and dialogue while asserting that “this is not an era of war”.

On Saturday (September 7), Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also asserted that both India and China could play key facilitators in the peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.