Russia on Friday welcomed India and China’s decision to de-escalate tensions in eastern Ladakh, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov saying he was “very happy” that he could provide his Indian and Chinese counterparts a platform for a “very well timed” meeting.
Addressing a joint press conference here with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi after the bilateral talks, Mr. Lavrov noted that the Foreign Ministers of the three countries had a very productive meetings on Thursday under the Russia, India and China (RIC) format.
“We are very happy that Moscow has presented a platform to Russia, China and India to have this very productive, fruitful meeting whose goal is to stabilise the situation on the border between India and China,” Mr. Lavrov said while a reporter sought his comments on the India-China road map to de-escalate tensions along their borders.
“It was a very productive and very well timed meeting and I am very happy that it happened,” he said on the bilateral meeting between External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Mr. Wang.
Ahead of the meeting between Mr. Jaishankar and Mr. Wang, Deputy Chief of the Russian embassy in New Delhi Roman Babushkin said Moscow would like to see “de-escalation and disengagement” through talks in eastern Ladakh.
“We are not participating in the resolution of disputes between the two countries. We are focusing on the creation of a positive atmosphere for it,” Mr. Babushkin said, ruling out the possibility of Russia playing the role of a mediator unless it was asked to do so by both India and China.
