Moscow is said to have initiated fresh diplomatic efforts to arrange an in-person summit meeting between the leaders of Russia, India and China (RIC). Sources told The Daily Guardian that the senior Russian diplomats posted in Delhi and Beijing have stepped up coordination, holding talks with their counterparts in India and China recently. “The Russian diplomats have spoken to senior officials in the foreign ministries of India and China regarding the same,” an official told The Daily Guardian. “If the Covid-Omicron situation remains under control, an in-person RIC summit may take place in the next couple of months,” he added.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s telephone call to Narendra Modi last week fueled speculation that Moscow is trying to arrange such a meeting to break the ice between India and China. Sources said that the Russian Ambassador to India has been in touch with the Indian diplomats over the past few days, apprising them of Moscow’s efforts in that direction. However, India has chosen not to comment on any such proposal as of now. Kudashev was recently on record, saying that Russia, India and China are discussing the possibility of an in-person summit between the leaders of three economies. Around two weeks ago, a top aide of Putin had remarked that a summit between President Putin, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping would happen soon. He had said that such a meeting would be in the trilateral RIC (Russia-India-China) format.
The Kremlin official had also pointed out that holding of the RIC (Russia-India-China) summit figured during a recent video conference between President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. Yury Ushakov, the Kremlin spokesperson, said the topic of cooperation in the Russia-India-China format was “addressed” in the talks between Putin and Xi. PM Modi, Xi and Putin had a trilateral meeting in the Japanese city of Osaka in June 2019, on the sidelines of a G-20 summit. The only comment from the MEA spokesperson on this was, “The RIC foreign ministers’ meeting in the virtual format took place on November 26. I do not have anything particular beyond that.” Days before Putin’s visit, the foreign ministers of Russia, India and China held talks in the virtual format with a focus on regional issues of mutual interests including the situation in Afghanistan.