Web Desk
Russian Ambassador to India, Denis Alipov, had a legion of trolls going after him after his comments on Pakistan went viral. Addressing a conference ‘Next Steps in India-Russia Strategic Partnership; Old Friends New Horizons’ organised by the India Writes Network and the Centre for Global India Insights on Monday, Alipov said that Moscow wanted to expand its economic engagement with Islamabad as a weak Pakistan wasn’t good for the entire region including India. All hell broke loose after Alipov’s comments were shared by a New Delhi-based TV journalist on Twitter. It didn’t help either when the ambassador referred to the journalist’s tweet explaining his Pakistan statement. “Meaning destabilized Pakistan is not in the interests of any in the region. A strong anti-India Pakistan cannot be in the interest of any, particularly India,” he tweeted.
Coming down heavily on the ambassador, a user tweeted: “Russians doomed India that China is only doing drills in Galwan and will not attack us but Chinese attacked India. Hence proved Russians are now completely a junior partner of China because Russia is totally dependent on China for its survival…@Swamy39” He tagged senior BJP politician, Subramanyan Swamy who has, of late, fallen out with Prime Minister Modi and lets go of no chance to attack him and his government’s policies. Responding to the user’s tweet, Swamy replied: “Why is Modi such a Bhola when it comes to the Chinese? Or is this his definition of master stroke?” It elicited a chain reaction from trolls who let fly at both the ambassador as well as Swamy.
In the middle of the controversy, some significant comments at the conference by the ambassador drew less attention. Besides the viral Pakistan comment, the ambassador also laid emphasis on India-China normalization of ties.
“We understand there are very serious impediments to that, a very serious border problem between the two countries. We had a border problem with China, an armed conflict with the Chinese at some stage of the problem, it took us around 40 years to negotiate but ultimately this is the only way to find a solution,” he said. The ambassador also lashed out at the United States for its role in Ukraine. Ambassador Alipov also said that the India-Russia ties were under stress because of the “arrogant” and “belligerent” approach of the US.
Commenting on Russia’s overall relations with India, Alipov said, “Internationally, we have always been on the same page, again something very contrasting with the US approach to India. Unlike them, we don’t need to explain to each other and the world that close partnership between us was not possible in the past for some reason.”
An old India hand, Denis Alipov was appointed as Russia’s Ambassador to India in January 2022 replacing Nikolay Kudashev.
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