Russia sides with India over China map row, says Galwan clash complicated relations

Russia has sided with India over the controversial map released by China on August 28, where it claimed Indian territories Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin as its own. Russian Ambassador to India Denis Alipov has said that releasing a map does not change situations on the ground, claiming that in case of any hostility between the two Asian giants Moscow will not compromise its relations with New Delhi. 

“We don’t exaggerate such issues. Not at all..And India does not exaggerate this issue either,” said the Russian envoy Denis Alipov over China’s recent ‘standard map’ while speaking at an event at Foreign Correspondents Club (FCC) South Asia. Throwing weight behind India and supporting its territorial integrity and sovereignty, the Russian envoy said that just by releasing a map any nation cannot claim a territory or state belonging to another. “It doesn’t change the situation on the ground,” said Envoy Alipov. The envoy, further, expressed hope that New Delhi and Beijing would soon reconcile the problems. 

Upon being asked about Moscow’s position in case of any hostility between India and China, the envoy said Russia would "never sacrifice" its ties with New Delhi under any circumstances.

With this, Russia has become the sixth country to back India over the China map row, after Indonesia, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and the Philippines. China often claims Arunachal Pradesh as its own and calls it South Tibet, while it has illegally occupied Aksai Chin during the 1962 Sino-Indian war. 

Complicated after Galwan: Russian envoy on India-China relationship 

The Russian envoy has also claimed that the Galwan clashes that took place at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) after China’s transgression hampered the relationship between India and China. Saying that India and China shared a close relationship before 2020, the Russian ambassador said that the dialogue between India and China became very “complicated” following the Galwan incident. 

"We have a trilateral mechanism between us - Russia, India and China...It had been quite active prior to 2020. But after the Galwan incident, the dialogue between India and China got very much complicated. But we are hopeful, we are very keen to continue with the trilateral format which, in our opinion, is very helpful to build the basis for the improvement of relations between India and China. This will certainly happen sooner or later..." said the Russian envoy to India. 

The Russian envoy also underlined the prospects of Rupee-Rouble trade between India and Russia. He said that the mechanism is not working for the Indian financial community as well and the banks are reluctant to use it fearing sanctions."The US has no leverage to disrupt such bilateral trade transactions. Still the banks are reluctant to do that," he said. He said this hoping that the model would soon be successful in the near future.