Anurag Srivastava said the cancellation of the summit was a “mutual agreement” between India and Russia (archive)
New Delhi:
The annual India-Russia summit was canceled due to the Covid crisis, the government said today, denouncing what it called “false and misleading” reports suggesting otherwise. The statement from the Foreign Ministry came shortly after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted that “damaging traditional relations” was dangerous for India’s future.
“The India-Russia Annual Summit was not held in 2020 due to the COVID pandemic. This was a mutually agreed decision between the two governments. Any allegation to the contrary is false and misleading. Spreading false stories in important relationships is particularly irresponsible”. Ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava said.
Earlier, Rahul Gandhi tweeted, along with a media report: “Russia is a very important friend of India. Damaging our traditional relationships is shortsighted and dangerous for our future.”
Some reports have linked the cancellation of the summit for the first time since 2000 to comments from Moscow on Monday expressing reservations about India’s adherence to the Quadrilateral or Quad coalition, saying it would be detrimental to inclusive dialogue to ensure peace and stability in the region.
The Quad, a grouping of the US, India, Japan and Australia, aims to ensure a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific and is seen as a counterattack to growing Chinese aggression in the South China Sea.
Russian deputy mission chief Roman Babushkin was quoted by the PTI news agency as saying: “We are facing some attempts by some countries to create containment and alienation in the Indo-Pacific region that could threaten and endanger the basic principles of the regional cooperation, for example. The centrality of ASEAN and the unity of ASEAN … Quad would be detrimental to inclusive dialogue in the region. “
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