Putin, Xi hail Russia-China bilateral ties during virtual summit© business-standard.com

Putin, Xi hail Russia-China bilateral ties during virtual summit

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A trilateral summit of the leaders of India, China and Russia is expected in the near future, a top Presidential adviser has said in Moscow. Briefing the media on the recent video conference between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, presidential aide Yury Ushakov said that the two leaders had discussed a trilateral with India.

Both the leaders “agreed to continue exchanging opinions in this regard and to endeavour to hold the next summit within the RIC [Russia-India-China] framework in the near future,” Mr. Ushakov was quoted as saying by Russian news agency TASS.

India is yet to acknowledge whether the China factor came up for discussion during the visit of Mr. Putin while maintaining that regional and global ‘hotspots’ were discussed. The trilateral format has been convened at various levels though a meeting at the level of the leadership is yet to take place in the backdrop of the LAC tension. Mr. Putin, Mr. Modi and Mr. Xi had met in 2019 on the sidelines of the G20 summit. That meeting was held before the Galwan clashes of June 2020 that worsened tension between India and China.