Saint Petersburg: National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval on Wednesday attended the BRICS National Security Advisers meeting in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

The meeting of BRICS and BRICS Plus High-Level Security Officials is being held in St. Petersburg from September 10-12.

The Indian Embassy in Russia shared some pictures of the Bricks meeting on X and stated, "NSA Shri Ajit Doval is participating in the BRICS NSAs meeting in Saint Petersburg, Russia. During the sessions in the first half of the day, he spoke on modern security challenges, including ICT ( information and communication technology) related issues and terrorism, and the need to address them through joint efforts within the BRICS framework."

Notably, Russia is holding the BRICS chairmanship for the year 2024.

BRICS is an informal group of states comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, with new members Egypt, Iran, UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Ethiopia joining the grouping in 2023. Ajit Doval also participated in the 13th BRICS NSA meeting in Johannesburg in July 2023.

Doval's visit to Moscow comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Russia and Ukraine in the past two months. During his visit, PM Modi met Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

It was PM Modi's first visit to Russia and Ukraine since the war started between Moscow and Kyiv in 2022. Notably, India has always advocated "peace and diplomacy" for resolving conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

During his visit to Russia in July, PM Modi held a meeting with President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin and discussed ways to diversify cooperation between the two nations in various sectors like trade, commerce, security, agriculture, technology, commerce, and innovation.

(With Inputs From Agencies)