Doval met Putin at the Konstantinovsky Palace in St. Petersburg on the sidelines of a conclave of the group (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa).
“As the Prime Minister told you during a telephone conversation, I was interested in briefing you about his visit to Ukraine and meeting with President Zelenskyy. He (PM Modi) wanted me to come and personally brief him about the talks,” Doval told the Russian president.
The NSA said the talks between Modi and Zelensky took place in a “very closed format.”
“I have come here on the orders of Prime Minister Modi, who has conveyed his highest greetings to you. Your visit to Moscow was a great success and he was very satisfied with the visit,” Doval is heard telling Putin in a video released by Russian media.
The meeting between Putin and Doval came nearly three weeks after Modi travelled to the Ukrainian capital kyiv and held talks with Zelensky.
Last week, the Russian president, speaking at a panel discussion at the Eastern Economic Forum in the Russian city of Vladivostok, named India, Brazil and China as possible intermediaries that could play a role in resolving the conflict.
At the meeting with Doval, Putin proposed a bilateral meeting with Modi on October 22 on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan next month.
The group’s summit will be held in Kazan from October 22 to 24 and Modi is scheduled to attend it.
In his talks with Zelenskyy, Modi said both Ukraine and Russia should sit together without wasting any time to end the ongoing war and that India was ready to play an “active role” in restoring peace in the region.
The Prime Minister said India had been on the side of peace since the beginning of the conflict and would even like to personally contribute to a peaceful resolution of the crisis.
Modi’s nearly nine-hour visit to Ukraine, the first by an Indian prime minister since independence in 1991, came six weeks after he held summit talks with Putin in Moscow.
In recent days, there have been calls for India’s possible role in pushing forward peace talks between Russia and Ukraine as New Delhi has good relations with both nations.
India has maintained that the conflict in Ukraine should be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy.
On Saturday, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, after her talks with Zelenskyy, said that India and China can play a role in finding a solution to the long-running conflict.
A Kremlin statement on the meeting between Putin and Doval said the Russian president “noted the successful development of the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between India and Russia and stressed the importance of security issues in bilateral relations, thanking the Indian side for maintaining dialogue in this area.”
He said the Russian president proposed the bilateral meeting with Modi to “summarize the results of joint work” on the implementation of agreements reached during the Indian leader’s visit to Moscow and to outline prospects for the near future.
“We are waiting for our good friend Modi and we send him our best wishes,” Putin was quoted as saying at the meeting with Doval, according to Russian media.
On Wednesday, the NSA held wide-ranging talks with its Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu, focusing on important issues of “mutual interest.”
“Both sides reviewed progress in bilateral cooperation and discussed important issues of mutual interest,” the Indian embassy in Russia said of the talks between Doval and Shoigu.
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