Ahead of the G20 Foreign Ministers meeting in the first week of March, NSA Ajit Doval is on a two day visit to Moscow and called on President Vladimir Putin. He also participated in the 5th Multilateral Meeting of Secretaries of Security Councils/National Security Advisers on Afghanistan, he also called on President Vladimir Putin.
For the G20 Foreign Ministers meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is expected to travel to India to attend on March 1 and 2.
Meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin
NSA Doval and Russian President Putin held wide ranging discussions and both sides agreed to continue working towards implementing the strategic partnership between Russia and India.
The Indian embassy in Moscow tweeted about the meeting and stated that the focus was on bilateral and regional issues.
The NSA began his two day visit to Moscow on Wednesday (Feb 8, 2023), and it came after the visit of External affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar’s visit to Moscow three months ago. In that visit the two countries had agreed to further expand their economic engagement and this included India’s import of petroleum products from its “time-tested” partner.
Moscow meeting on Afghanistan
According to sources during the meeting in Moscow NSA Ajit Doval said that India has a special and historical relationship with Afghanistan which is going through a difficult phase. The humanitarian needs and the physical well being of the people of that country is India’s foremost priority.
He said that India will never abandon the people of the war torn Afghanistan in their time of need. And with a focus on medical supplies and food security so far India has sent 40,000 MT of wheat, 500,000 COVID vaccines, 60 Tons of medicines, winter clothing and 28 tons of disaster relief. Also, there is a technical team from India which is overseeing the humanitarian assistance programme. According to sources in the past two years India has granted fresh scholarships to 2260 Afghan students and this includes 300 Afghan girls.
NSA Doval also talked about the importance of an inclusive and representative dispensation which is in the larger interest of Afghan society.
Terrorism has become a major threat in the region and India has at the meeting reaffirmed the importance of UNSCR 2593 (2021) — calls for terror outfits including those designated by UNSCR 1267 to be denied sanctuary in the region.
Intensified intelligence and security cooperation between respective States and its agencies is required to deal with Daesh and terror outfits like LeT and JeM operating from Pakistan.
And the NSA also stated that no country should be allowed to use Afghan territory to export terrorism and radicalisation and the natural resources of the country should be used for the welfare of the people in that country.
And he reiterated that India is and will remain an important stakeholder in Afghanistan and it will always support collective efforts to help the people of that country.
Besides Russia, other countries present included India, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, and Uzbekistan. Several issues related to Afghanistan were discussed and these included the humanitarian challenges and security situation in that country.
Previous Meetings on Afghanistan
In November 2021 the 3rd round of this Conference was held in New Delhi under the chairmanship of NSA Ajit Doval and in May 2022 the 4th meeting was held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
India-Russia Ties
Despite the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, the bilateral ties between India and Russia remain strong. And in the last few months India’s import of crude oil had witnessed an upward swing despite the West led sanctions on Russia.
India’s position on the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine
It has maintained from the start that the crisis must be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy.