A trilateral summit of the leaders of India, China and Russia is expected in the near future, a top Presidential adviser has said in Moscow. Briefing the media on the recent video conference between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, presidential aide Yury Ushakov said that the two leaders had discussed a trilateral with India.
Both the leaders “agreed to continue exchanging opinions in this regard and to endeavour to hold the next summit within the RIC [Russia-India-China] framework in the near future,” Mr. Ushakov was quoted as saying by Russian news agency TASS.
A robust friendship: On Modi-Putin summit meeting
Mr. Putin visited Delhi briefly on December 6 during which he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a one-on-one meeting. Upon returning to Moscow he held a video conference with Mr. Xi. The sequence of meetings has acquired special significance in the context of tension between India and China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) since early 2020.
India is yet to acknowledge whether the China factor came up for discussion during the visit of Mr. Putin while maintaining that regional and global ‘hotspots’ were discussed. The trilateral format has been convened at various levels though a meeting at the level of the leadership is yet to take place in the backdrop of the LAC tension. Mr. Putin, Mr. Modi and Mr. Xi had met in 2019 on the sidelines of the G20 summit. That meeting was held before the Galwan clashes of June 2020 that worsened tension between India and China.
The Foreign Ministers of Russia, India and China met on November 26 ahead of Mr. Putin’s visit. During that meeting, all parties agreed on countering terrorism but a major difference was visible on Indo-Pacific with Russia supporting Chinese concern on Indo-Pacific grouping ‘Quad’.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, during the weekly media briefing, referred to the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of RIC and said, “RIC format exists. We have very good relation with Russia,” but declined to give further details.
