External Affairs Minister to take part in China-Russia trilateral amidst LAC tensions

A special Russia-India-China- RIC trilateral Foreign Minister’s Video Conference was organized to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the conclusion of the Second World War. The meeting that will be held via video conference around 1.30 p.m. will include Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and will be hosted by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

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The three leaders were originally scheduled to meet on March 22 in Sochi, but the annual meeting had to be put off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The RIC meeting coincides with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s visit to Moscow to attend Russia’s Victory Day parade, and for high-level meetings.

Indian and Chinese militaries have both sent contingents for the parade, but officials ruled out a meeting between Mr. Singh and any Chinese official in Moscow.

Officials in Moscow and Delhi have also underlined that “no bilateral issues” would be discussed during the video conference.

RIC as a strategic grouping first took shape in the late 1990s under the leadership of Yevgeny Primakov as “a counterbalance to the Western alliance.”

Primakov, a Russian politician and diplomat who was also the prime minister of Russia from 1998 to 1999, is credited with the idea for RIC.

The group was founded for renewing old ties with India and fostering the newly discovered friendship with China.