Moscow: India's fresh peace initiative with Pakistan is understood to have come up for discussion between Indian Ambassador to Russia K Raghunath and Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov on May 6.

The meeting came ahead of next week's visit of External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha to Moscow to have parleys with his Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov and other Russian leaders.

Sinha is scheduled to begin his five-day Russia visit on May 14 during which he will also hold talks on Indo-Pak relations with the US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who would be in Moscow during the same time.

A Russian Foreign Ministry statement said that "proximity of stands" was expressed at the meeting between Raghunath and Losyukov on the ways of strengthening regional security in South Asia.

Russia has been consistently backing India's demand to stop cross-border terrorism as a prerequisite to end Indo-Pak standoff and development of normal ties between them.

Though the foreign ministry did not divulge any details, the two officials are believed to have discussed Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's fresh peace initiative with Pakistan, which has been welcomed by Moscow.

PTI