Ajit Doval Meets Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow

The visit comes ahead of summit talks between PM Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin in India later this year.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval has held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow and discussed a host of issues such as combating terrorism, organised crime and drug trafficking.

Doval, who was accompanied by Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale during his visit on Thursday, 10 May, also held talks with Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev besides calling on Lavrov, an Indian Embassy statement said.

The visit, which was part of the regular dialogue at the NSA-level between the two countries, comes ahead of summit talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin in India later this year.

In his opening remarks during the meeting with Doval, Lavrov was quoted as saying by an official Russian statement, "We have a very full agenda in our bilateral relations. Economic ties are growing, and a mechanism is being developed to further liberalise trade both bilaterally and as part of India's cooperation with the Eurasian Economic Union."

The two countries' foreign policy coordination is making steady progress as part of regular bilateral contacts between the relevant agencies, as well as in the context of their partnership promotion in multilateral formats, he said.

I am speaking of the Russia-India-China (RIC) format, BRICS, and now the SCO, of which India became a full-fledged member last year. All this allows us to closely interact and coordinate our approaches in the UN and various military and political security mechanisms in the Asia-Pacific region.

Sergei Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister

"I am happy to have the opportunity to talk today about our further work in these formats to solve tasks related to fighting terrorism, organised crime and drug trafficking, and to promote cooperation in practical areas," Lavrov said

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