Ajit Doval meets Vladimir Putin, both agree to keep strategic ties going

This is the NSA’s second visit to Russia since the Ukraine war began — he was there in August last year.

The Kremlin said President Putin met with heads of delegations taking part in the multilateral consultations on Afghanistan.

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

Putin told the visiting NSAs: “I know that this meeting has become a tradition and is devoted to a very important issue — the situation in Afghanistan. Obviously, there is a lot of potential for conflict in the world today. There are many conflicts here, not far from Russia, including on the Ukrainian track.”

“We are well aware and we realise this perfectly well, but this does not reduce the significance of the situation in Afghanistan. This has always been important for us and now it is important more than ever because we do not want more points of tension on our southern borders,” he said.

“Unfortunately, since the American armed forces fled Afghanistan, the situation has not improved. International terrorist organisations are stepping up their activities, including al-Qaeda which is building up its potential,” Putin said.

“We are also worried about attempts to use the situation in Afghanistan to allow extra-regional forces to expand or build their infrastructure. These countries will create this under the pretext of countering international terrorism, but they are not doing anything that is really necessary in the real counterterrorism struggle,” he told the NSAs.

“Obviously, the situation in the country is not improving and we see this. The humanitarian situation is worsening. Millions of people – about 4 million people according to our information – are in need of urgent humanitarian aid. Drug trafficking is on the rise, and unfortunately, the fields are growing, too. I think 80 per cent of opiates in the world market are from Afghanistan,” he said.

“The situation is very complicated, but we are doing all we can to find solutions. We have contacted the country’s leaders in Kabul. We know there are plans to implement large economic projects that could stabilise the situation in the economy,” Putin said.

“Nevertheless, it goes without saying that it is very important for me to listen to your position, your viewpoint because you are exactly the people that are professionally dealing with such issues, including Afghanistan,” he said.

In his address at the multilateral meeting on Afghanistan, Doval said that no country should be allowed to use Afghanistan territory to export terrorism. India, he said, 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.

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

Doval’s visit to Moscow also took place 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 1-2.

Last December, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a conversation with Putin on telephone and discussed the situation in Ukraine and the bilateral relationship. This was their fifth phone conversation since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Modi and Putin met on the sidelines of the SCO Summit on September 16 last year in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Modi had told Putin that this is “not an era of war” – this was also reflected in the Bali Declaration of the G20.

While India has not explicitly condemned the Russian invasion, it has called for an international probe into the Bucha massacre and has expressed its concerns over nuclear threats issued by Russian leaders.

At the UN Security Council as well, India has taken a nuanced position and has abstained from voting against Russia in several resolutions since the invasion on February 24, 2022. This, sources said, has been a real test of India’s diplomatic tightrope walk so far.

Despite facing pressure from the West to condemn Moscow’s actions, India has continued to buy Russian oil at discounted prices. Besides, India’s dependence on Russia for its defence supplies is about 60 to 70 per cent of the supplies, and that has faced some challenges in the wake of the Ukraine war.