New Delhi: Russia on Thursday expressed its views over the dispute of India and China at Line of Actual Control (LAC). With the tension – Russia has said that “Any further escalation of tensions between India and China could impact regional stability across Eurasia and reiterated the need to find a negotiated settlement to the border standoff along the Line of Actual Control.”
Russian Deputy Chief of Mission Roman Babushkin said that “Russia is naturally concerned over the tensions between the two Asian powers, noting that it was very important for both the countries to engage more in constructive dialogue.”
Babushkin added that “It is clear that amid global turbulence and unpredictability, escalation between India and China would further affect regional instability in our common home Eurasia. The escalation we are witnessing can be misused by other players in their geo-political purposes,”
Babushkin’s remarks came after a nearly seven month long India China border standoff.
“We feel it is very important to encourage both our friendly Asian countries to be more engaged in constructive dialogue. Recent news about their commitment to exercise restraint and continue communication through diplomatic and military channels to remove tensions are absolutely welcoming developments,” he added.
On the India and China disputes – Babushkin said that “Russia is in the unique position since it has special strategic relations with both India and China and these relationships are independent in nature. We are naturally concerned with the current tensions between India and China. However, we believe that a peaceful solution is inevitable sooner rather than later,”
“India and China both are global and responsible neighbouring powers with huge economic and defence potential as well as civilizational wisdom,” he added.
On the India and US relations – Babushkin added that “Russia does not see any problem in the relations and New Delhi does not provide any reason for doubt when it comes to multilateral and bilateral commitments. India is a global power with multi-faceted and wide and diversified national interests and we respect that.”
At the same time, the Russian Deputy Chief of Mission made a veiled reference to the threat by the US to India to not go ahead with mega defence deals. “We know that there were attempts to pressure India and use unfair and illegal competition tools such as threats of sanctions and other restrictions, he said.
In October 2018, India had signed a 5 billion USD deal with Russia to buy five units of the S-400 air defence missile systems and then the Trump administration warned India that going ahead with the contract may invite US sanctions.
_Vinayak