Russia will not cause any injury to bilateral ties with India: MJ Akbar

NEW DELHI: India on Wednesday stated that it believed that Russia will not cause any injury to bilateral ties and strategic partnership notwithstanding Moscow's recent overtures to Pakistan.

"India-Russia ties stood the test of time and will stand test of future. Surely you do not believe that because of the very strong bilateral relationship Russia can not engage or consult with other nations, of course it can… we are absolutely confident in saying that we do not believe that Russia will do anything that is injurious to our security interest and injurious to our national interest," MoS M J Akbar said at MEA's press conference, when asked what Russia's relationship with Pakistan meant for India.

The Minister pointed out that the high-level meetings between Moscow and New Delhi, which took place four to five times a year, signified the importance of the relationship to both sides including successful Indo-Russian summit in Goa last October.

These comments were made in the context of recent overtures made by Russia to Pakistan and organize a dialogue with China and Pakistan with an outreach to Taliban over Afghanistan's fate.