Ajit Doval Headed To Moscow As PM Modi Tries To Broker Russia-Ukraine Peace

New Delhi:

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval will be travelling to Moscow this week to hold discussions aimed at resolving the Russia-Ukraine conflict, sources have said. This comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited both Russia and Ukraine in the past two months and met its leaders Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky.

Shortly after his trip to Ukraine and his meeting with President Zelensky, the Prime Minister spoke to President Putin over the phone on August 27. A Russian Embassy statement said that during the phone call, Prime Minister Modi informed President Putin about his recent visit to Kiev and stressed India’s commitment to bring about a settlement for Ukraine by political and diplomatic means.

According to sources, it was during this phone call that the leaders decided that NSA Doval would travel to Moscow for peace talks. No details regarding the schedule of this visit are currently available.

“Vladimir Putin shared his principled assessment of the destructive policies of the Kiev authorities and their Western patrons, and went on to highlight Russia’s approaches to resolving this conflict,” the Russian Embassy said about the phone call.

The Prime Minister’s Office said the two leaders exchanged views on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. “The PM shared insights from his recent visit to Ukraine. He underlined the importance of dialogue and diplomacy as well as sincere and practical engagement between all stakeholders to achieve an abiding and peaceful resolution of the conflict,” a PMO release said.

The Prime Minister reiterated India’s firm commitment to support an “early, abiding and peaceful resolution of the conflict” on his official handle on X.

Last month, the Prime Minister was in Ukraine and met its President Volodymyr Zelensky. During the meeting, the two sides discussed the Russia-Ukraine conflict and Prime Minister Modi said, “India was never neutral, we have always been on the side of peace.”

President Putin has named India among the three countries Russia is in touch with over the Ukraine conflict. “We respect our friends and partners, who, I believe, sincerely seek to resolve all issues surrounding this conflict, primarily China, Brazil and India. I constantly keep in touch with our colleagues on this issue,” Putin said.

Other world leaders, too, are of the view that India can play a key role in finding a resolution to the Ukraine conflict. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni yesterday held talks with Ukraine President Zelensky. “China and India have a role to play in resolving the conflict. What must not happen is to think that the conflict can be resolved by abandoning Ukraine to its fate,” she said, according to reports in Italian media.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict has sharply divided the world and most global powers have taken sides. New Delhi, however, has constantly called for peace, with Prime Minister Modi stressing that “this is not an era of war”.

When Prime Minister Modi travelled to Russia in July and hugged President Putin, President Zelensky had referred to a Russian missile strike that killed 37 people, three of them children. He had said it is “a devastating blow to peace efforts to see the leader of the world’s largest democracy hug the world’s most bloody criminal in Moscow on such a day”. On his recent visit to Ukraine, Prime Minister Modi embraced President Zelensky and the Ukraine leader said he and Prime Minister Modi had “honoured the memory of children whose lives were taken by Russian aggression”. “Children of every country deserve to be safe. We must make it possible,” he said.