Russia Considers Citizenship Act Domestic Issue Of India, Says Diplomat

New Delhi Dec 24: Russia considers the Citizenship Amendment Act a domestic policy of India and if there are any issues it should be resolved through dialogue “without escalation”, senior Russian diplomat Roman Babushkin in New Delhi said on Monday.

Responding to a question on the CAA, Russian Deputy Chief of Mission Babushkin said “this is a domestic policy of India and we are not interfering”.

“However, if there are any issues, it should be resolved based on dialogue without escalation,” he added.

On Kashmir issue, Mr Babushkin said Russia is of the understanding that issues between India and Pakistan should be resolved bilaterally according to the Simla Agreement and the Lahore Declaration.

Talking to reporters earlier on the bilateral ties with India, Russian envoy Nikolay Kudashev said India and Russia will develop further next year a military dialogue and deepen counter-terrorism cooperation bilaterally and in the frameworks of the BRICS, SCO and RIC-like formats.

Addressing an year-end press conference, Mr Kudashev said Russia hopes the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the Eurasian Economic Union and India comes to an early conclusion.

“We see much potential for cross-sector cooperation springing from such Indian national programmes as Make in India, Digital India, Smart Cities, as there is a lot of common ground and mutually enriching experience,” he said.

“We are examining ambitious projects in metallurgy and engineering, pharmaceuticals, infrastructure, transport, e-governance, information technologies and many other,” he said.

He said the two countries will continue military and technical cooperation based on mutual commitment to timely and successful implementation of the contracts exceeding $14.5 billion as well as the intergovernmental agreement aimed at pushing forward joint development and production of military equipment and spare parts.

Mr Kudashev said the two countries will continue implementation of the flagship project – Russian-designed Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant based in Tamil Nadu, expanding localisation and joint production as well as cooperation in third countries.

“We are about to reach a new level of energy security partnership by increasing oil and natural gas supplies by introducing long-term arrangements in this regard as well as deepening investment cooperation in India and Russia, taking into account lucrative opportunities in the Russian Arctic offered to Indian companies,” he said.

Mr Kudashev said India and Russia will continue their bilateral cooperation on the basis of commonly recognised principles of international behaviour such as “non-interference in domestic affairs and mutual respect”.

“We are of a strong opinion that only together, by promoting an inclusive and unified agenda, we can find solutions for global and regional threats to avoid any alienation lines. This is an important precondition for sustainable development,” he said.

On export of BrahMos missiles that has been jointly developed by Russia and India, Babuskhin said both the countries are in touch with other countries to export BrahMos missiles.

When asked if China can prevent Russia from selling BrahMos missiles, Babushkin said Russia does not have military alliance with China and does not intend to form it in the future.

“Russia ties with India are independent of Russia-China ties,” he said.