NATO Creating "Problems" Between India, China: Russian Minister

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has accused the US-led military bloc NATO of attempting to make "overtures" to India to create "additional problems' in India's already strained relations with China.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, he also said that the US-led West has taken the concept of the Indo-Pacific "out of context and given a new meaning - the indivisibility of interests of NATO and the Indo-Pacific region. The difference is obvious".

"NATO is not limited to organising life on the European continent. In June 2022, NATO's Madrid Summit declared that the military bloc had a global commitment, specifically in relation of the Asia-Pacific region, which they call the Indo-Pacific region. It is clear that they are attempting to make overtures to India to create additional problems in its relations with China," Mr Lavrov said.

NATO is a leading intergovernmental military grouping of 30 member nations that was established in the aftermath of World War II. The grouping functions under the framework of collective security. The headquarters of NATO is in Brussels.

In the past, Mr Lavrov had said that the Indo-Pacific region strategy of the US will not affect the close partnership between Russia and India.

"We are friends with India. We are doing our utmost to make sure that India and China, our two great friends and brothers, live in peace with one another. This is our policy which we promote not only in the context of the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation) or BRICS. We have a special trilateral format, a "troika" or RIC - Russia, India and China," the top Russian diplomat said in January 2021.

India-China relations have been bogged down since April 2020 when China tried to move a large number of its troops to the disputed areas in Easter Ladakh, resulting in a prolonged military standoff.

Russia has joined China in denouncing AUKUS, (US, UK, Australia) as well as bloc formations in Indo-Pacific, a veiled reference against Quad, (US, India, Australia, Japan) alliance as China-Russia deepened the strategic alliance to push back against mounting pressure from the US and allies.

In the "Indo-Pacific region", as Westerners call it, a course has been taken to create a bloc architecture against Russia and China, the Russian foreign minister said on Wednesday.

India advocates a rules-based Indo-Pacific with freedom of navigation, open connectivity, and respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of all states.

China is engaged in hotly contested territorial disputes in both the South China Sea and the East China Sea. China claims sovereignty over all of the South China Sea. Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Taiwan have counterclaims.

Beijing has also built up and militarised many of the islands and reefs it controls in the region. Both areas are stated to be rich in minerals, oil and other natural resources and are also vital to global trade.

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