Russia, India Bilateral Relations: Pakistan Issue Discussed

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has held a telephone conversation with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on May 2. They discussed topical issues of Russian-Indian interaction as well as Indian-Pakistani relations following the terrorist attacks in Kashmir.

Russia has called for the two parties to settle the differences between New Delhi and Islamabad by political and diplomatic means on a bilateral basis in conformity with the 1972 Simla Agreement and the 1999 Lahore Declaration.

Pakistan had earlier announced a suspension of the 1972 Simla Agreement in a reciprocal move after India announced a slew of punitive actions in response to the Pahalgam incidents. 26 mainly Indian tourists died in the resort, which is part of the long-disputed Kashmir region. India has asked all Pakistani nationals to leave the country and has suspended all trade and cross-border travel arrangements. Small scale cross-border fighting has been occurring for the past ten days with both sets of military involved.

Following the recent terror attack in Pahalgam, Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has spoken with foreign ministers from four of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. Russia, India and Pakistan are all full members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, which also includes China.

During their conversation, Lavrov and Jaishankar also reviewed the schedule of upcoming high-level and top-level bilateral engagements.