Alongside the BRICS NSA conference in Johannesburg on Monday, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval will have meetings with senior Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi and Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev, among others.

Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the UAE and Musaad bin Mohammed Al Aiban of Saudi Arabia are two special invitees to the NSA level meeting, which will take place in the lead-up to the summit on August 22–24. Global concerns such the conflict in Ukraine, the Indo-Pacific, religious radicalism, and terrorism are on the agenda of the BRICS NSA summit.

The exchanges between NSA Doval and Yang Jiechi, the former Director of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission, will be significant in this context given PLA aggression in East Ladakh in May 2020, according to sources. NSA Doval will meet with his counterparts under the BRICS framework as well as bilaterally.

Despite being somewhat unstable, the situation in East Ladakh is under control because China and India are in frequent communication with one another through diplomatic and military channels. Despite army withdrawals from Galwan, Gogra-Hot Springs, and Pangong Tso lake spurs, the PLA has not yet deescalated from the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in East Ladakh. The Indian Army is still not permitted to lawfully patrol the Depsang Bulge area or the Charding Ninglung Nullah (CNN) junction in Demchok due to the PLA’s enhanced deployment in several areas around the Daulet Beg Oldi sector.

Even though NSA Doval is anticipated to bring up the subject of de-escalation in the western and eastern sectors of the LAC, little is anticipated to come of the bilateral discussions because the PLA has yet to send back its six combined military battalions that it deployed during the 2022 National Party Congress. These six brigades are stationed throughout the Tawang region of Arunachal Pradesh as well as the extremely sensitive Silliguri corridor. The Indian Army has deployed a significant amount of military might in the eastern sector in response to the increased PLA threat.

NSA Doval will meet with the national security advisers from Russia, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia to discuss the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and its effects on the world economy. He will also update Patrushev, Vladimir Putin’s right-hand man, about the conditions in East Ladakh and the Indo-Pacific. The BRICS NSA summit will also focus heavily on Afghanistan’s politically unstable condition and its effects on terrorism coming from the Af-Pak region.

The decision of whether the BRICS summit would be held in person or virtually via video conferencing will also be made as Russian President Putin has ruled out attending.