NSA Ajit Doval meets Putin in St Petersburg amid buzz of Ukraine peace effort

New Delhi, Sep 12 (PTI) National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Thursday met Russian President Vladmir Putin amid renewed efforts to find a solution to the Ukraine conflict.

The meeting took place on the margins of a conclave of national security advisors of the BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) nations in St Petersburg.

In the talks, Putin hoped that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Russia's Kazan next month to attend the annual BRICS summit.

The Russian President also proposed a bilateral meeting with Modi on October 22 on the sidelines of the BRICS summit to analyse bilateral engagement and to discuss "future-oriented" actions.

"We are waiting for our good friend Modi and best regards to him," the Russian media quoted Putin as saying in the meeting with Doval.

On Wednesday, the NSA held wide-ranging talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu and discussed important issues of "mutual interests".

It is understood that 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-a-half weeks after 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 Putin in Moscow.

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 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.

Putin, speaking at a panel discussion at the Eastern Economic Forum in 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.

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