NEW DELHI: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov expressed Moscow's strong interest in reviving the Russia-India-China (RIC) trilateral dialogue, which has remained dormant since the 2020 Galwan clashes between India and China.
Speaking at the plenary session of an international political conference focused on building a unified and fair security and cooperation system in Eurasia, Lavrov said Russia is “genuinely interested” in the re-launching of the RIC format, according to Russian state media agency TASS.
“I would like to confirm our genuine interest in the earliest resumption of the work within the format of the troika — Russia, India, China — which was established many years ago on the initiative of (former Russian prime minister) Yevgeny Primakov, and which has organised meetings more than 20 times at the ministerial level since then, not only at the level of foreign policy chiefs, but also the heads of other economic, trade and financial agencies of the three countries,” Lavrov said.
Lavrov is scheduled to visit India in June to prepare for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to the country later this year for a bilateral summit.
Addressing broader geopolitical issues, Lavrov accused NATO of attempting to involve India in efforts aimed at countering China. “I have no doubts that our Indian friends, and I say this based on confidential conversations with them, obviously see this trend that can be deemed as a large provocation,” he said.
The RIC dialogue has been on pause since tensions flared between India and China in 2020, when a deadly clash in the Galwan Valley resulted in the deaths of 20 Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese troops. Since then, both countries have avoided patrolling disputed border points in Ladakh to prevent further confrontations.
On the current status of the border dispute between India and China, Lavrov commented, “As of today, as I understand, an understanding has been reached between India and China on how to ease the situation on the border, and it seems to me that the time has come for the revival of this RIC troika.”
Signs of easing tensions emerged in October 2024, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia. Since then both sides have put in place a slew of measures to build confidence and normalise the relationship.