The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: National security adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval assured his Russian counterpart Nikolay Patrushev of India’s support for Russia in multilateral venues during a meeting at Moscow on February 22 this year, leaked classified US intelligence assessments show, according to a Washington Post report.
Doval, as per the leaked documents, also told Patrushev that New Delhi was working to ensure the Ukraine war did not come up during a Group of 20 meeting chaired by India, despite “considerable pressure” to do so. He also cited India’s resistance to pressure to support the Western-backed UN resolution over Ukraine, saying India “would not deviate from the principled position it had taken in the past.”
The documents were among a trove of US intelligence secrets leaked online through the Discord messaging platform. Several sensitive files were released by a 21-year-old IT specialist of the US Air National Guard, revealing US concern over Ukraine’s military capacity against Russian forces and also instances of alleged spying by Washington on its allies Israel and South Korea.
It is not clear how US intelligence agencies gained access to Doval’s discussions with Patrushev.
Patrushev, a close confidante of Russian President Vladimir Putin, had officially met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 29, when he was in Delhi for a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting. Russia’s Security Council said in a readout cited by Russian news agencies after the meeting that Patrushev and Modi discussed “issues of Russian-Indian bilateral cooperation and mutual interest,” without providing further details.
A week after Doval’s meeting, the Modi government had suggested removing any reference to the Ukraine war from a joint statement to be issued at the end of the meeting of G-20 foreign ministers in New Delhi. It claimed that this was in line with its neutral stance on the issue and a reiteration of its view that diplomatic channels should be employed to resolve the crisis.
However, the Western countries did not agree to that suggestion and this disagreement resulted in a failure to forge a consensus on broader global challenges. In place of a joint statement, a G20 Chair’s Summary and Outcome Document was released, underlining the positions expressed by member countries in relation to the Russia-Ukraine war.
Analysing leaks about positions that developing countries have taken regarding the US’s rivalry with Russia and China, the Washington Post report says that Joe Biden’s “global agenda faces significant challenges as major developing nations seek to evade the intensifying standoff” and in some cases “exploit that rivalry for their own gain”.