Moscow engages in backchannel talks with India, China to ease tension

Moscow has engaged in backchannel talks with both New Delhi and Beijing to help end the stand-off along the disputed India-China boundary, even as the violent face-off in Galwan Valley escalated tension between the two neighbouring nations.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is likely to join his Russian and Chinese counterparts, Sergey Lavrov and Wang Yi, in a video-conference on June 22.

The virtual meeting is part of the existing Russia-India-China (RIC) trilateral mechanism, but what has added to its significance is that it is being held at a time when the Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) are engaged in a stand-off along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) – the de-facto boundary between the two nations – in eastern Ladakh.

Moscow on Monday got in touch with both New Delhi and Beijing to make it sure that the violent face-off between the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA, which resulted in casualties on both sides in Galwan Valley on Monday, should not derail the process initiated by the two governments to resolve the stand-off through dialogue between the diplomats and senior military officials, sources told the DH.

Moscow’s deputy envoy to New Delhi, Roman Babushkin, earlier this month told journalists in New Delhi that while Russia was concerned about the situation along the LAC, it was confident that India and China would find a way to resolve the stand-off through dialogue.

Russia, however, did not make any public offer to mediate between India and China – unlike the United States.

New Delhi and Beijing echoed each other last month to reject the US President Donald Trump’s offer to mediate to help defuse tension along India-China border.

But when Trump called Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 2, the two leaders did discuss the stand-off between the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA.

Modi also supported Trump’s plan to expand the G-7 to G-11 – a move, which Beijing already decried as an attempt to contain China and was also opposed by Russia.

Moscow is understood to have conveyed the message to Beijing that China’s aggression on its disputed boundary with India would leave it with no other option to move closer to the US.

Shortly before Trump-Modi call on June 2, Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla and Russia’s envoy to India, Nikolay Kudashev, had a meeting.