Sergey Lavrov pushes for revival of Russia-India-China troika
Lavrov pushes for revival of Russia-India-China troika (Picture credit: AP)
With India having resolved its 2020 border standoff with China in Ladakh, Russia is pushing India to restart the Russia-India-China (RIC) trilateral mechanism. Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said an understanding had been reached between India and China on how to ease the situation on the border and it's time now for the revival of the RIC troika.
"I would like to confirm our genuine interest in earliest resumption of the work within the format of troika - Russia, India, China - which was established many years ago on the initiative of Yevgeny Primakov (former Russian PM), and which has organised meetings over 20 times at the ministerial level since then, not only at level of foreign policy chiefs, but also heads of other economic, trade and financial agencies of three countries," said Lavrov, speaking at a conference, as per Russia's TASS agency.
Lavrov is likely to take up the issue with Indian authorities during his upcoming visit to India. As TOI had reported on May 26, the Russian minister is likely to travel to India in June to finalise the agenda for the upcoming India-Russia summit that will see President Vladimir Putin visiting India for the first time since the Russia-Ukraine war started in Feb 2022.
The Russian agency also quoted Lavrov as saying that Nato is blatantly trying to lure India into anti-China intrigues.
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"I have no doubts whatsoever that our Indian friends, and I say this based on confidential conversations with them, obviously see this trend that can be actually deemed as a large provocation," Lavrov said.
India last hosted a meeting of RIC foreign ministers in a virtual mode in Nov 2021. The minister had then pledged to strengthen cooperation under the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) saying the group played a constructive role in securing peace and sustainable development, advancing regional cooperation and consolidating ties of good-neighbourliness and mutual trust. While India hasn't taken any decision yet on participation in the SCO summit that China will host this year, Russia is hoping PM Modi will attend the event.
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