At BRICS, Ajit Doval calls for action to tackle terror, digital threats

National Security Adviser Ajit Doval today stressed the need for addressing modern security challenges, including those arising out of terrorism and digital threats emanating from “information and communication technologies”.

He called upon the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) framework to make joint efforts to tackle these.

Doval was in St Petersburg, Russia, to attend a summit of the NSAs of BRICS. The meeting comes ahead of a summit of leaders of BRICS countries to be held in Kazan, Russia, next month. PM Narendra Modi is among those scheduled to attend the summit. The Indian Embassy in Russia posted on X, “The NSA spoke on modern security challenges, including ICT (information communication technology) issues and terrorism, and the need for addressing these through joint efforts within the BRICS framework.”

Doval called for reform of multilateralism, saying that the existing structures were no longer capable of handling modern threats and sensitive issues of common concerns. “The wide participation at the meeting today testifies to the fact that there is an urgent need for reform of multilateralism if we are to restore credibility,” Doval said.

Doval also had a brief interaction with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi at the venue. Doval and Wang are set to hold a bilateral meeting on Thursday on the sidelines of the BRICS conclave.

Doval and Wang are also the special representatives of their countries on the issue of resolution of the boundary dispute between the two sides.

For the past four years, India and China are locked in a military stand-off along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh.

In July, Wang Yi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had met in Vientiane, Laos, on the sidelines of the ASEAN-related foreign ministers’ meeting. Jaishankar had conveyed that “disturbance to peace and tranquillity” along the LAC had cast a shadow on the ties. Doval’s visit to Moscow comes after PM Modi’s visit to Russia and Ukraine in the past two months. During his visit, Modi met Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

It was 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 the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.