New Delhi: A host of global leaders, including New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and other senior officials, especially from European nations, are likely to converge next week in New Delhi for the Raisina Dialogue.
Organised by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) and the Ministry of External Affairs, the conference will occur amid an international churn, especially surrounding the Russia-Ukraine war.
Sybiha, barring exceptional circumstances, is expected to travel to India, and Lavrov, a regular at previous iterations of Raisina Dialogue, might also make an appearance, ThePrint has learnt.
However, whether Lavrov will attend is yet to be confirmed, especially as the US administration under President Donald J. Trump has begun pushing for a ceasefire deal in the three-year-long war in Ukraine. His team of negotiators have been meeting with officials from both Moscow and Kyiv in the West Asian nation of Saudi Arabia.
The Russian foreign minister last attended the Raisina Dialogue in 2023, where he hit out at the ORF, calling on it to “do their homework” and asserting that the West started the war in Ukraine, with the audience heard laughing at his comment.
There was minimal Russian participation in the Raisina Dialogue last year.
Gabbard, the first senior Trump official to visit India, is expected to attend a security conclave organised by India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on the margins of the Raisina Dialogue.
According to media reports, the conclave will likely happen Sunday.
Apart from Gabbard, Director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Daniel Rogers is expected to attend the conclave. His likely visit to India comes as Canadian Prime Minister-designate Mark Carney has indicated his intention to repair ties with New Delhi.
Ties between New Delhi and Ottawa have been at their lowest since incumbent Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, on the floor of the House of Commons in September 2023, alleged links between Indian officials and the killing of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Nijjar, an Indian designated terrorist, was gunned down outside a gurdwara in Canada in June 2023.
At the time, India rejected the allegations, calling them “absurd and motivated”. However, in the roughly 18 months since Trudeau made the allegations, ties have worsened between the two nations.
Canadian officials leaked sensitive information to Western media, and its domestic security agency, the Royal Canadian Mountain Police (RCMP), which held a press conference detailing the allegations against New Delhi in October 2024.
On the other hand, India has accused Trudeau of pandering to his domestic audience while making claims linking Indian officials to the killing of Nijjar.
Intelligence chiefs from other countries, including the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Germany and others from West Asia, are expected to attend the security conclave.
The three-day Raisina Dialogue from 17-19 March will see several senior officials from Eastern and Central Europe in attendance.
Last year, several senior officials from the Nordic-Baltic Eight, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden, were present at the conference.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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