Russia fears US-led West ‘undermining’ its close relations with India in the garb of QUAD

Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov has accused the US-led West of attempting to “undermine” Russia’s close partnership and privileged relations with India.

Speaking at a meeting of the state-run think-tank Russian International Affairs Council via a video link on 08th December, Lavrov said the West is seeking to reinstate the unipolar world order that would include all states but for Russia and China with which it would deal later.

“‘Poles’ like Russia and China are unlikely to be subordinate to it. However, India is currently an object of the Western countries’ persistent, aggressive and devious policy as they are trying to engage it in anti-China games by promoting Indo-Pacific strategies, the so-called ‘Quad’,” he was quoted as saying by the Russian Foreign Ministry.

The US, Japan, India and Australia had in 2017 given shape to the long-pending proposal of setting up the “Quad” or the Quadrilateral coalition to counter China’s aggressive behaviour in the Indo-Pacific region.

The US says Quad is not an alliance but a grouping of countries driven by shared interests and values and interested in strengthening a rules-based order in the strategically-important Indo-Pacific region