Moscow:
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused the United States-led West of attempting to “undermine” Russia’s close partnership and privileged relations with India.
Speaking at a meeting of the state-run feel-tank Russian International Affairs Council by means of a video hyperlink on Tuesday, Mr Lavrov stated the West is in search of to reinstate the unipolar globe order that would consist of all states but for Russia and China with which it would deal later.
“‘Poles’ like Russia and China are unlikely to be subordinate to it. However, India is currently an object of the Western countries’ persistent, aggressive and devious policy as they are trying to engage it in anti-China games by promoting Indo-Pacific strategies, the so-called ‘Quad’,” he was quoted as saying by the Russian Foreign Ministry.
The US, Japan, India and Australia had in 2017 provided shape to the lengthy-pending proposal of setting up the “Quad” or the Quadrilateral coalition to counter China’s aggressive behaviour in the Indo-Pacific area.
The US says Quad is not an alliance but a grouping of nations driven by shared interests and values and interested in strengthening a guidelines-primarily based order in the strategically-vital Indo-Pacific area.
“At the same time the West is attempting to undermine our close partnership and privileged relations with India. This is the goal of the US’ very tough pressure on New Delhi in the military and technical cooperation area (with Russia),” the major Russian diplomat added.
In 2018, India and Russia announced that they have elevated their strategic partnership into a “special privileged strategic partnership”.
In October 2018, India had signed a USD 5 billion deal with Russia to obtain 5 units of the S-400 air defence missile systems, notwithstanding warning from the Trump administration that going ahead with the contract could invite US sanction.
The S-400 – identified as Russia’s most sophisticated lengthy-variety surface-to-air missile defence method – can destroy incoming hostile aircraft, missiles and even drones at ranges of up to 400 km.
Rejecting the objective trends towards the formation of a multi-polar globe, the US-led West has launched a “game,” Mr Lavrov stated.
“It has postponed Russia and China for later and is attempting to draw all other individuals into a unipolar globe by any suggests feasible. For our element, we will market a unifying agenda, he asserted.
He stated that below the situations, the part of contacts amongst the political scientists and specialist communities is becoming significantly additional vital.
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