Describing a legal move to ban the Bhagvad Gita in Russia as the work of "misdirected and motivated individuals", External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna Tuesday said India has taken up the issue at the highest levels with the Russian government and hoped for a resolution.

A day after a belligerent opposition raised a furore in parliament over an IANS report about an ongoing court case in Tomsk, Siberia, on banning the Gita on grounds that it is extremist literature, Krishna said India was closely monitoring the case and has been consistently in touch with the Russian authorities.