'Never doubted Indian policies, Kashmir strictly internal matter': Russian envoy

Russia's envoy to India on Friday said Moscow did not have any doubt over India's approach to Kashmir. "Those having doubts over India's approach on Kashmir can go there; we don't have any doubt," Nikolay Kudashev said when asked about not being invited to visit Jammu and Kashmir. On China's attempt to raise the issue of Kashmir at the Security Council, Kudashev said, "It's a strictly bilateral matter to discuss between India and Pakistan based on Shimla Agreement and Lahore Declaration."

The ambassador made these remarks during a press conference on Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's visit to India for Raisina Dialogue 2020. The Russian envoy to India had earlier said he did not receive an invitation from the Indian government to be part of the group of envoys which paid a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir last week.

A group of 15 envoys visited Kashmir

A group of 15 envoys, including the US ambassador to India Kenneth Juster, visited the erstwhile state where they interacted with select political representatives, civil society members as well as the military top brass. The visit came after India abrogated Article 370 that granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir and imposed communication restrictions on the region, which is being lifted in a phased manner. The group of foreign envoys included those from United States, South Korea, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Maldives, Morocco, Fiji, Norway, Philippines, Argentina, Peru, Niger, Nigeria, Togo and Guyana.

China-Pakistan's flop meeting

China and Pakistan managed to hold an informal closed-door consultation on Kashmir in the UNSC in New York. However, the meeting ended without an outcome after the overwhelming majority of the UNSC conveyed that the world body was not the right forum to discuss the Kashmir issue, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said on Thursday.

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S-400 missiles to be delivered to India by 2025

Russian Deputy Chief of Mission Roman Babushkin also met Foreign Minister S Jaishankar on Friday and said all S-400 air defence missile systems will be delivered to India by 2025. The production of S-400 missiles to be delivered to India has started, he said. The S-400, an upgraded version of the S-300, had previously only been available to the Russian defence forces. It is manufactured by Almaz-Antey and has been in service in Russia since 2007. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will visit Russia on March 22 and March 23 to attend a meeting of the Russia-Indian-China trilateral.

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(With agency inputs)