India plays a very important role in Afghanistan and its eventual deeper involvement in dedicated dialogue formats is natural, Russia said on Tuesday while rejecting a media report that claimed it kept India out of the international efforts for the Afghan peace process.

Noted the publication in the Indian media claiming that Russia allegedly "kept India out" of the international efforts for the Afghan peace process, which seems to be based on "ill-informed sources", the Russian Embassy here said in a statement.

Dialogue between Russia and India has always been very close and forward-looking on all global and regional issues, including the situation in Afghanistan, it said. The dialogue has been intensively maintained in bilateral and multilateral formats, including the SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group, Moscow consultations, etc., the statement said.

The Russian Embassy said that due to the complexity of the Afghan settlement, moving towards a relevant regional consensus and coordination with other partners, including the US, is critical. "We proceed from the importance of the implementation of the US-Taliban agreement signed in Doha in February 2020 and approved by a UN Security Council resolution," it said.

Russia always stated that India plays a very important role in Afghanistan, and its eventual deeper involvement in dedicated dialogue formats is natural, the Embassy said. The statement came in response to a media report which claimed that Russia kept India out, while the US brought Delhi to the talks table for the Afghan peace plan.