Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov conveyed Moscow's genuine interest in reinvigorating the Russia-India-China (RIC) trilateral mechanism in a statement on Thursday.
Lavrov emphasized, "I would like to confirm our sincere interest in the earliest revival of the work in the troika format — Russia, India, China — which was created many years ago on the initiative of (former Russian prime minister) Yevgeny Primakov, and which has arranged more than 20 meetings at the ministerial level since then, not only at the level of foreign policy leaders, but also the heads of other economic, trade and financial bodies of the three nations," TASS reports.
He made these words during an international political and social conference aimed at establishing a common and equitable system of security and cooperation in Eurasia, which took place in the city of Perm, in the Ural Mountains where Europe and Asia converge, during the plenary session of the conference.
Lavrov added further that recent trends suggest improvement between India and China in de-escalating tensions on the border. "To date, as I understand, India and China reached an understanding on how to de-escalate the situation at the border, and it appears to me that the moment has arrived for the resumption of this RIC troika," he stressed.
Further, Lavrov blamed NATO for trying to engage India in anti-China maneuvers. "I have no doubt that our Indian friends, and I say this based on confidential talks with them, clearly notice this trend which can be actually considered as a big provocation," he said.
The activities of the RIC troika have remained in abeyance since the clashes at the Galwan Valley in June 2020. However, a recent bilateral meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the margins of the BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia, in October 2024 was viewed as a move in the right direction towards improving relations. At that meeting, both leaders underscored the need to enhance bilateral cooperation.
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