NSA Doval holds wide-ranging discussions with Russian President Putin

New Delhi: National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday held wide-ranging discussions in Moscow and agreed to continue working towards implementing the strategic partnership between the two countries.

The Indian embassy in Moscow said the discussions were focused on bilateral and regional issues, but it did not elaborate on the issues.

"NSA Ajit Doval called on HE President Putin. Wide-ranging discussion on bilateral and regional issues. Agreed to continue work towards implementing the India-Russia strategic partnership," the embassy tweeted.

🇮🇳 NSA Ajit Doval called on HE President Putin. Wide-ranging discussion on bilateral and regional issues. Agreed to continue work towards implementing the India-Russia strategic partnership. pic.twitter.com/SMHe6VI9ve

— India in Russia (@IndEmbMoscow) February 9, 2023

Doval began his two-day visit to Russia on Wednesday.

On Monday, Russian Ambassador to New Delhi Denis Alipov said Russia wants to further diversify its relations with India.

The NSA's visit to Russia came three months after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar travelled to the country during which the two sides vowed to expand their economic engagement including India's import of petroleum products from its "time-tested" partner.

On Wednesday, Doval attended the fifth meeting of Secretaries of Security Councils/NSAs on Afghanistan which was hosted by Russia.

In the meeting, Doval said no country should be allowed to use Afghan territory to export terrorism and asserted that India will never abandon the people of Afghanistan in their time of need.

Besides Russia and India, the meeting was attended by representatives from  Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Doval's visit to Moscow comes weeks ahead of the G-20 foreign ministers' meeting in New Delhi.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is expected to travel to India to attend the meeting on March 1 and 2.

The ties between India and Russia remained strong notwithstanding Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

India's import of Russian crude oil has gone up significantly in the last few months despite increasing disquiet over it in many Western countries.

India has not yet condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and it has been maintaining that the crisis must be resolved through diplomacy and dialogue.