Supporting India’s fight against terrorism, Russia has called for elimination of ‘safe havens for terrorism and violent extremism present in Afghanistan and Pakistan’ and agreed to expand consultations on the volatile Afghan situation.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev today reiterated his country’s support for India’s bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council (UNSC). India is a “strong and deserving candidate”, he said. “Russia wants India to have a permanent seat in the UNSC if the decision to expand the organisation is taken,” Medvedev said in a joint press release with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after their two-hour meeting.
The need to expand counter-terrorism cooperation figured prominently in the talks. Russia has had a troubling insurgency in Chechnya. “The two sides agreed all terrorist networks must be defeated. They called upon Pakistan to expeditiously bring all perpetrators, authors and accomplices of the 2008 Mumbai attacks to justice,” the joint statement said.
At the joint press interaction, Medvedev stressed “no civilised state can hide terrorists,” but did not name Pakistan, possibly because relations between Russia and Pakistan have been improving of late.
The Russian-Pakistan dialogue for the first time was elevated to the level of presidents and Moscow has overcome its reluctance to develop full-fledged relations with Islamabad. There are geopolitical reasons for this. Russia is concerned about the situation in Afghanistan and the implications of growing Islamic radicalisation in its own neighbourhood, including Central Asia.
“Terrorists are criminals. They, of course, should be punished. Those who hide terrorists conceal their crimes. No modern civilised state can hide terrorists as law abiding citizens. They are subject to punishment,” said Medvedev.
“India and Russia are both victims of terrorism and there is a natural synergy of interests in working together to deal with this menace. We should cooperate in information sharing and intelligence sharing and devise effective counter-terrorism strategies,” said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
