Meet Vinay Kumar — India's New Ambassador To Russia

New Delhi – With the intention to bolster ties with Russia, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs appointed veteran diplomat Vinay Kumar as India's next Ambassador to the Russian Federation. The announcement from the ministry came on Tuesday. Kumar is currently serving as India's Ambassador to Myanmar and will join his duties in Russia shortly. As of now, the ministry has not given a specific timeline for when he will be taking over his new role. Kumar will be replacing Pavan Kapoor who was recently appointed as the new secretary (West) in the external affairs ministry. 

“Shri Vinay Kumar (IFS: 1992), presently Ambassador of India to Myanmar, has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Russian Federation,” the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. “He is expected to take up the assignment shortly,” he added. In the past, Kumar has also served as India's Ambassador to Afghanistan. 

Who is Vinay Kumar? 

Kumar was an Indian Foreign Service officer of the 1992 batch and has also served as Joint Secretary (South) in the headquarters of the External Affairs Ministry. In 2018, he succeeded Vohra to be India's ambassador to Afghanistan and in 2021, he was appointed as the Ambassador of India to the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. At that time, he succeeded Saurabh Kumar who was serving in Myanmar since 2019. 

Kumar's appointment came a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin secured his fifth term as the President of Russia. After the results were announced Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter to congratulate the Russian leader. “Warm congratulations to H.E. Mr. Vladimir Putin on his re-election as the President of the Russian Federation. Look forward to working together to further strengthen the time-tested Special & Privileged Strategic Partnership between India and Russia in the years to come,” PM Modi wrote on X, formally known as Twitter.