Brushing aside speculation that recent visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Russia will harm India-Russia strategic ties, its envoy to New Delhi Denis Alipov on Thursday termed these claims as “wishful thinking.”  The visit came at a time when tension prevails at the border between India and China.

In this backdrop, the Russian envoy said in a tweet message “Profusion of analysis these days of the outcomes of Xi Jinping’s Russia visit.

The impression as though various reputable Indian experts almost dream of Russia-China ties harming Russia-India strategic alignment. A wishful thinking case in point,” the Russian Ambassador said.

Chinese President Jinping was on a three-day visit to Russia from March 20 to 23. In Moscow, he met President Putin. 

The State visit came in the backdrop of the ongoing Ukraine war and sharp division between the Western world and Russia.

India, so far, has refrained from voting against Russia on the Ukraine issue in the United Nations General Assembly and the United Nations Security Council(UNSC).  New Delhi has time and again called for diplomacy and dialogue to end the conflict. 

Xi Jinping reportedly told the Russian President that he is convinced of the popular support Putin enjoys in Russia, ahead of a Presidential election next year. Vladimir Putin also praised China’s growth trajectory and also said that Russia is “slightly envious” of the rapid development of China in recent decades.

Western countries reacted sharply to Xi’s visit and asked China to press Russia to end its military campaign in Ukraine. “We hope President Xi uses this opportunity to press President (Vladimir) Putin to cease bombing Ukrainian cities, hospitals, schools, to halt some of these atrocities that we are seeing on a daily basis,” UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s spokesman said.