Russia welcomes India’s surgical strikes on Pak terror camps

Russia on Monday said it “welcomes” the surgical strike by India as every country has a right to defend itself. Russia’s ambassador to New Delhi Alexander M Kadakin said his country had always been with India in fighting cross-border terrorism.

Russia had earlier asked lslamabad to take “effective” steps to stop the activities of terrorist groups on its territory. “Greatest human rights violations take place when terrorists attack military installations and attack peaceful civilians in India. We welcome the surgical strike. Every country has right to defend itself,” Russian embassy quoted Kadakin as having said.

He also assured India that it does not need to worry about Russia-Pakistan joint military exercise, saying it did not take place in “Pakistan-occupied Kashmir”.

Last week, a Russian foreign ministry statement had said that the country stood for “decisive struggle” against terrorism in all its manifestations.

“We are concerned with the aggravation lately of the situation along the LoC between India and Pakistan. We are calling on the parties not to allow any escalation of tension and to settle the problems through negotiations. We stand for decisive struggle against terrorism in all its manifestations,” it said.