Russia sides with India over China map row, says Galwan clash complicated relations

Russia has sided with India over controversial map released by China on August 28, where it claimed Indian territories Arunachal Presh and Aksai Chin as its own. Russian Ambassor to India Denis Alipov has said that releasing a map does not change situations on ground, claiming that in case of any hostility between two Asian giants Moscow will not compromise its relations with New Delhi. 

“We don’t exaggerate such issues. Not at all..And India does not exaggerate this issue eir,” said Russian envoy Denis Alipov over China’s recent ‘standard map’ while speaking at an event at Foreign Correspondents Club (FCC) South Asia. Throwing weight behind India and supporting its territorial integrity and sovereignty, Russian envoy said that just by releasing a map any nation cannot claim a territory or state belonging to anor. “It doesn’t change situation on ground,” said Envoy Alipov. envoy, furr, expressed hope that New Delhi and Beijing would soon reconcile problems. 

Upon being asked about Moscow’s position in case of any hostility between India and China, envoy said Russia would "never sacrifice" its ties with New Delhi under any circumstances.

With this, Russia has become sixth country to back India over China map row, after Indonesia, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Philippines. China often claims Arunachal Presh as its own and calls it South Tibet, while it has illegally occupied Aksai Chin during 1962 Sino-Indian war. 

Complicated after Galwan: Russian envoy on India-China relationship 

Russian envoy has also claimed that Galwan clashes that took place at Line of Actual Control (LAC) after China’s transgression hampered relationship between India and China. Saying that India and China shared a close relationship before 2020, Russian ambassor said that dialogue between India and China became very “complicated” following Galwan incident. 

"We have a trilateral mechanism between us - Russia, India and China...It h been quite active prior to 2020. But after Galwan incident, dialogue between India and China got very much complicated. But we are hopeful, we are very keen to continue with trilateral format which, in our opinion, is very helpful to build basis for improvement of relations between India and China. This will certainly happen sooner or later..." said Russian envoy to India. 

Russian envoy also underlined prospects of Rupee-Rouble tre between India and Russia. He said that mechanism is not working for Indian financial community as well and banks are reluctant to use it fearing sanctions." US has no leverage to disrupt such bilateral tre transactions. Still banks are reluctant to do that," he said. He said this hoping that model would soon be successful in near future.