New Delhi and Moscow have “effective and trust-based” relations, Russian Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu said at a meeting with his Indian counterpart, Ajit Doval, in St. Petersburg on Wednesday. The key to this relationship is regular contact between the two countries’ heads of state, Shoigu asserted.
“We highly value our specially privileged strategic partnership with India. Our relations are characterized by mutual respect, taking each other’s interests into account, and are not subject to international trends,” Shoigu said.
“New Delhi is one of Moscow’s main like-minded partners on the global stage, and our friendship has confidently stood the test of time,” the former defense minister added, according to TASS.
The meeting between Shoigu and Doval took place on the sidelines of a BRICS and BRICS+ high-level representatives meeting in St. Petersburg. During the talks, the Russian Security Council secretary noted that the bilateral summit between the Russian and Indian leaders held in Moscow on July 8-9 had outlined new prospects for cooperation between the two nations.
Moscow especially appreciates that Russia was chosen as the destination for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first bilateral foreign visit in his third term, Shoigu noted.
According to the Indian Embassy in Russia, during the talks the two sides “reviewed progress in bilateral cooperation and discussed important issues of mutual interest.” The PTI news agency on Thursday reported that the security officials had also discussed Modi’s visit to Ukraine in August and his talks with Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky. Several Indian media outlets previously reported, citing sources, that Doval is conveying a Modi-proposed peace plan to the Russian leadership.
Doval’s visit to Russia coincided with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar’s trip to Germany, where he indicated that direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine are inevitable to end the ongoing conflict, and that India is ready to play a role in facilitating this process. He underscored, however, that New Delhi would not necessarily mediate the talks.
“Let me say this – for us, this is not about a process or about being seen to do something. What is important for us is the reality of the conflict that is taking place today. So, we are always open to any step that is serious, that is impactful and that is, in our view, a step towards peace,” Jaishankar said.
Despite intense scrutiny from the West, India has maintained robust diplomatic ties with Moscow and has expanded bilateral trade to record levels in the past two years. New Delhi has maintained that peace efforts to resolve the Ukraine crisis must involve both Kiev and Moscow. Earlier this year, an Indian delegation participated in the Swiss-hosted summit which focused solely on Zelensky’s ‘peace formula’, but refused to sign the final document as the talks did not feature Moscow.