Russia offers to mediate between India, Pakistan amid mounting clashes
Russia says it is prepared to mediate between archrivals India and Pakistan, amid heightened cross-border tensions between the two neighbors and the threat of an all-out conflict.
"If they want this, then of course," Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday when asked if Moscow would take over the intermediary role, Russia’s TASS news agency reported.
Lavrov spoke with his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday on the sidelines of an event in China after which he hoped tensions could be de-escalated and that both countries would show restraint, AFP reported.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also reaffirmed Moscow’s readiness to act as a go-between.
"We are concerned about the escalation of tensions between India and Pakistan and the dangerous maneuvering of the two countries’ armed forces near the line of control, which risks direct military clashes," she told reporters.
The standoff between the two neighboring countries has escalated dramatically since February 14, when Indian paramilitary forces on the India-controlled side of Kashmir were hit by a deadly bomb attack orchestrated by Pakistan-based militants.
The tensions reached a peak on Tuesday, when India said it had conducted “preemptive” airstrikes against what it described as a militant training camp in the town of Balakot in western Pakistan.
Both Islamabad and New Delhi have also claimed to have shot down each other’s fighter planes near the disputed border of Kashmir, accusing one another of violating each other’s airspace.
Pakistan denies that it has lost any warplanes, but says it has captured at least one Indian pilot after shooting down his fighter jet.
Most recently, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged his countrymen to “stand as a rock” in the face of the “enemy,” while his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan said his administration would return the captured pilot "as a peace gesture."
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