The video released by Russia at the end of National Security Advisor Ajit Doval’s meeting with President Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg, may have raised some eyebrows.
It showed Doval waiting as Putin walked up to him and the two shaking hands. One presumes that protocol would have required Doval to walk up to the Russian president.
Was Putin sending a signal of some kind, maybe that he placed special value on the India relationship, or his regard for Doval?
Did he do the same for other NSAs? Some time will have to be spent going through Putin’s meeting with them.
🇷🇺🤝🇮🇳 On September 12, #Russia‘s President Vladimir Putin had a meeting with Ajit Doval, National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of #India, at the Konstantinovsky Palace in #StPetersburg.
👉🏻 https://t.co/vFQ64S4vMq#RussiaIndia #DruzhbaDosti pic.twitter.com/KxcD9aciDG
— Russia in India 🇷🇺 (@RusEmbIndia) September 12, 2024
“The Russian President proposed holding a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi on October 22 on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan,” said a Kremlin readout of Doval’s talks with Putin at the Constantine Palace, where the Secretary of the Russian Security Council Sergei Shoigu was also present.
“We will be expecting Mr Modi in Kazan. I also suggest holding a bilateral meeting there on October 22 in order to review the results of our joint work to implement the agreements reached during his visit to Moscow and outline some plans for the near future,” Putin was quoted as saying.
Doval said he had come to St Petersburg with specific instructions from Modi.
“As the Prime Minister told you during your telephone talk, (after his return from Kyiv) he was keen to brief you about his visit to Ukraine and his meeting with President Zelensky. And he wanted me to come specially and personally and brief you on the talks,” he said.
This triggered renewed speculation about an Indian role in helping end the Ukraine war, because at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostock last week, Putin had named three possible peace brokers: “The Chinese People’s Republic, Brazil, India. I am in contact with my partners. We have trust and confidence in one another.”
Add to that on the day Doval met Putin, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told the Global Centre for Security Policy, a think tank in Geneva, that “India is among the few countries that have the ability to talk to both Russia and Ukraine to find a solution outside the battlefield.”
He also underscored that “negotiations cannot happen without the two parties on board.”
India’s possible role came up elsewhere also. Vuk Vuksanovic of the London School of Economics told Newsweek that “India has the capital of being on good terms with Russia, and Modi had a good visit to Ukraine, but it is unclear if India wants that role and whether others will accept it.”
As for China, Vuksanovic was clear that the US “would not allow China to have the glory of a peacemaker.”
In a career spanning three decades and counting, Ramananda (Ram to his friends) has been the foreign editor of The Telegraph, Outlook Magazine and the New Indian Express. He helped set up rediff.com’s editorial operations in San Jose and New York, helmed sify.com, and was the founder editor of India.com.
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