Russian NSA will visit India for high level consultation and talks over Afghanistan crisis

Russian Secretary of the Security Council General Nikolay Patrushev will be visiting India for high-level inter-governmental consultations on Afghanistan, according to the Ministry of External Affairs. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar are expected to receive Patrushev.

"At the invitation of National Security Adviser Ajit K. Doval, KC, the Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, General Nikolay Patrushev is visiting India for High-Level India-Russia Inter-Governmental Consultations on Afghanistan from 7-8 September 2021," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement. These meetings, according to the ministry, are a follow-up to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 24.

PM Modi and President Putin instructed their senior officials to keep in touch

The MEA stated, "The two leaders had expressed the view that it was important for the two strategic partners to work together and instructed their senior officials to remain in touch on Afghanistan." Following the Modi-Putin conversation, Russia stated that the two leaders expressed their desire to strengthen cooperation in combating the spread of "terrorist ideology" and the drug threat emanating from Afghanistan, and agreed to establish a permanent bilateral channel for consultations on the subject.

Russian envoy Nikolay Kudashev said on Monday that there is "ample opportunity" for cooperation between India and Russia on Afghanistan, adding that the two countries have been in constant contact about the latest developments in the war-torn country. He also stated that Russia shares India's concern that Afghan soil should not be used to propagate terrorism to other countries, and that there is a "risk" of terror spreading to Russian territory as well as Kashmir.

The Russian envoy also stated that there is little difference between Russia's and India's basic positions on Afghanistan and that Moscow's attitude to granting legitimacy to a Taliban rule would be contingent on its actions. Before the Taliban seized power in Kabul, Russia was a major proponent of the Afghan peace process. According to official sources, the two sides agreed to boost up coordination on Afghanistan at that time as well. 

(Inputs from ANI/ PTI)

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