End to Russia-Ukraine war? After PM Modi, NSA Ajit Doval to visit Russia this week; to discuss peace talks

National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval will visit Russia this week, where he will discuss peace efforts aimed at resolving the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, according to a report by India Today TV. 

During his visit, the former IPS officer will also take part in the BRICS-NSA meeting. Doval is also expected to hold bilateral meetings with his Russian and Chinese counterparts with the possibility of following up on the discussions from the July summit in Moscow. The last BRICS-NSA meeting was held in South Africa's Johannesburg in 2023, where Doval also represented India.

According to reports, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's telephonic conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin last month, it was discussed that Ajit Doval would be visiting Russia to discuss ideas relating to peace after his Ukraine visit. 

Separately, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that India could help in establishing a dialogue on Ukraine.

The Prime Minister during his visit to Ukraine, the first by an Indian PM since the country gained independence in 1991, urged President Volodymyr Zelensky to engage in direct talks with Russia. The two sides also discussed the Russia-Ukraine conflict that escalated in 2022. During the discussions, the Prime Minister said, “India was never neutral, we have always been on the side of peace.” 

President Putin has recently suggested that he is not against peace and sees Brazil, China and India as possible mediators to end the conflict that erupted on September 24, 2022.  

On September 7, Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said that India and China can play a role in resolving the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. "I believe China and India have a role to play in resolving the conflict,” France 24 quoted Meloni as saying after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of a conference. 

Russian and Ukrainian negotiators met in Istanbul in the first weeks of the war, but those talks could not make a headway. On the ground, the situation remains bleak with both sides opening up new fronts. Some estimates suggest that the war claimed 500,000 wounded or dead people, according to The New York Times (NYT).