The agenda of the upcoming meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Russia, India, China (RIC format), which will be held in the coming days, does not imply discussion of the latest escalation on the Indian-Chinese border, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday.
“In the next few days, a videoconference of the foreign ministers of Russia, India and China is planned. The agenda is agreed. The RIC agenda does not involve discussing issues related to the bilateral relations of a country with another member of this format”б – Lavrov told the reporters.
The incident occurred on the evening of June 15 near the Galvan Valley in Ladakh. According to the Chinese military, the Indian military violated their obligations and again illegally crossed the line of actual control, deliberately carried out a provocative strike, which led to a fierce clash, were wounded and killed.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry protested and made a representation of India in connection with a new incident at the border. The Indian Foreign Ministry said the clash came as a result of an attempt by the Chinese side to unilaterally change the consensus regarding compliance with the line of actual control in the Galvan Valley. An Indian Army spokesman said one officer and two Indian soldiers died. Later, ANI agency, citing a source, reported that 20 soldiers were killed on the Indian side, 43 people were injured on the Chinese side – this number includes dead and seriously wounded.
Between China and India there is a long-standing territorial dispute over the ownership of a mountainous area in northern Kashmir, as well as almost 60 thousand square kilometers in the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh. The actual control line runs in the Ladakh region. In the fall of 1962, this dispute escalated into a border war. In 1993 and 1996, China and India signed peacekeeping agreements in disputed areas.