Russia echoes PM Modi's views, says 'Bilateral issues should be avoided' at SCO summit

Russia supported Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s stance at the virtual Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit by echoing similar remarks about bilateral issues. While talking to reporters, the Russian deputy chief of mission Roman Babushkin said that it is a part of the charter and “basic focus” to not bring up the bilateral issues in the agenda, ANI reported. According to him, such matters shall be avoided for multilateral progress because SCO is meant to deal with the global and financial issues that are impacting the region. Babushkin thinks that India-Pakistan issues at such international platforms should be avoided.

Roman Babushkin said, as quoted by ANI, "It is part of the charter and basic focus to not bring bilateral issues in agenda, it should be avoided for the progress of multilateral fora, SCO is meant to resolve global, financial issues affecting the region. We hope that India-Pakistan bilateral issues should be avoided and such incidents would not appear.”

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While talking about the India-China border tensions, Russian envoy told the reporters that Moscow is concerned as the standoff might have repercussions on other nation groupings such as Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa or BRICS and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). However, Babushkin reiterated that despite the presence of such matters, they shall not be a part of group discussions and bud tensions. He acknowledged the tensions between India-China and assured that Russia is taking a note of both sides to derive a solution. 

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India's relations with other countries not at 'expense' of Russia's interests

As per the same report, while talking about the major milestone agreements that India signed with the United States, the Russian envoy said that Indo-Russian bilateral relations are developing with “great confidence”. Acknowledging the ties that India shares with other nations, Babushkin said that they are not at the ‘expense’ of Russia’s interests and showcased confidence in the credibility of Indian friends. The Russian envoy also spoke on the joint product of Moscow and New Delhi, Brahmos and its export to third countries. 

"Russia-India relations are proceeding with great confidence. We are closely watching India's relations with the US and other countries. India's ties with other countries are not at the expense of Russian interests, we have no doubt on the credibility of Indian friends," he said.

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(with inputs from ANI)