St Petersburg: National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Wednesday met his Russian counterpart Nikolai Patrushev on the sidelines of the 12th International Meeting of High Ranking Officials Responsible for Security Matters in Russia's St Petersburg. The two officials reviewed progress in bilateral cooperation and discussed issues of mutual interest.
The Indian embassy in Moscow took to X to announce Doval's meeting with Patrushev, Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation. "Both sides reviewed progress in bilateral cooperation and discussed important issues of mutual interest," it said. The NSA had earlier condemned the barbaric terror attack at Crocus City Hall in Moscow on March 22 and called for shunning double standards in combating the menace.
This is Doval's second meeting with Patrushev this month. Earlier in April, Doval met Patrushev on the sidelines of the 19th annual meeting of the secretaries of security councils of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states in Astana and conveyed India's solidarity with the Russian government and the people of Russia to address the threat from terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.
Separately, Doval on Wednesday addressed the luncheon meeting of BRICS NSAs hosted by the Secretary of the Russian Federation’s Security Council, where he called for closer cooperation in the fight against terrorism and concrete actions to prevent transborder planning, funding and execution of terrorist acts.
On the sidelines of the meeting in St Petersburg, Doval held a bilateral meeting with his Myanmar counterpart Admiral Moe Aung and spoke about the current situation in Myanmar and India-funded infrastructure projects in Myanmar. The two sides also discussed recent developments along the India-Myanmar border, including issues related to security, refugees, development projects, etc."
He also met Celso Amorim, Chief Adviser to Brazilian President Lula da Silva. At a plenary session on Ensuring Information Security in the Polycentric World, Doval underscored India’s policy to use digital technology for inclusive economic development and calls for international cooperation for an open, stable, secure, reliable and inclusive framework for ensuring information security.
He also said that India shall continue cooperation for countering misuse of information and communication technologies by terrorists and criminals, as well as for countering terror funding. He laid out a roadmap which proposed the cooperation of all stakeholders, regular institutional dialogues to develop an understanding on critical issues, capacity building of like-minded countries and the creation of mechanisms for cooperation at domestic and international levels.
In his address at the security conclave of the SCO in Astana, Doval had said that the perpetrators of terrorism should be effectively and expeditiously dealt with including those involved in cross-border terrorist activities. The NSA also expressed deep concern about the security situation in Afghanistan including the continued presence of terrorist networks.
(with inputs from agencies)
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