New Delhi: The Indian Embassy in Qatar has consular access to detained Indian nationals and their well-being is ascertained, the Ministry of External Affairs said Thursday on reports of 8 former Indian Navy officers under detention in Qatar.

While addressing a weekly presser here, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, "Indian embassy officials in Qatar got consular access to detained Indian nationals and ascertained their well-being."

Bagchi said this in response to queries on detention reports of eight former Indian Navy officers working in Qatar. Moreover, Bagchi also shared details of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's visit to Russia on November 7-8.

"External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will pay an official visit to the Russian Federation on November 7-8. The Minister will meet the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and will hold discussions on the entire range of bilateral issues as well as exchange views on regional and international developments," Bagchi said.

Bagchi added EAM Jaishankar will also meet the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation and the Minister of Trade and Industry Denis Manturov. Speaking on the other meetings, Bagchi said, Jaishankar will meet "counterparts for the India-Russia intergovernmental commission on trade, economic, scientifical and technological cooperation. The visit will be in continuation to the high-level dialogues with the two sides."

"Our position on the Ukraine-Russia conflict has always been clear, we want dialogue to focus on bilateral, regional and global issues and that is what, I think, our external affairs minister will be discussing," MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said on Jaishankar's visit to Russia.

Jaishankar's visit to Moscow comes at a crucial time when the war between Russia and Ukraine has escalated recently. This visit is also coming at a time when the Indian embassy in Kyiv has issued a fresh advisory asking all Indian citizens in Ukraine to leave the country immediately in view of escalating hostilities in the Ukraine war.