NEW DELHI: Russia on Thursday warned that any escalation in India-China tensions would lead to more regional instability and it could be exploited by "other players" for geopolitical purposes. The embassy here said India and Russia were looking at further expanding defence cooperation and that they were also considering exporting BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles to third countries, starting with the Philippines.
"It is clear that amid global turbulence and unpredictability, escalation between India and China would further affect regional instability in our common home — Eurasia. Escalation, as we are witnessing, can be misused by other players in geopolitical purposes," Russian deputy chief of mission Roman Babushkin said, adding that Russia was naturally concerned about the Sino-Indian dispute.
"We we feel it’s very important to encourage both our Asian friendly countries to be more engaged in a constructive dialogue. Recent news about their commitment to exercising restraint and maintaining communication through diplomatic and military channels to remove tensions are absolutely welcoming developments," he added.
Russia this week hosted the SCO heads of state summit virtually where PM Narendra Modi hit out at Pakistan for raising bilateral issues. When asked about it, the Russian diplomat supported India's position that bilateral disputes should not be raised on the multilateral Eurasian platform.
Asked about growing ties between India and the US, Babushkin said Russia did not see any problem in the relations, adding that New Delhi did not provide any reason for doubt when it came to multilateral and bilateral commitments.
"New Delhi is a global power with multi-faceted and wide and diversified national interests and we respect that. India does not provide any reason for doubt when it comes to multilateral and bilateral commitments," he said. However, he made a veiled reference to the "threat" by the US to India to not go ahead with mega defence deals.
"We know that there were attempts to pressure India and use unfair and illegal competition tools such as threats of sanctions and other restrictions," he said.
In October 2018, India had signed a $5 billion deal with Russia to buy five units of the S-400 air defence missile systems, notwithstanding a warning from the Trump administration that going ahead with the contract may invite US sanctions.