Russians fact-check 'The Print', says India summit postponed due to Covid-19 and not Quad
The Russian Foreign Ministry has rejected an Indian media report that claimed that the India-Russia annual summit had been postponed for the first time in two decades amid Moscow's unease with the Quad alliance.
FollowThe Russian Foreign Ministry has rejected an Indian media report that claimed that the India-Russia annual summit had been postponed for the first time in two decades amid Moscow's unease with the Quad alliance.
Doing a fact-check on the story that appeared in web portal 'The Print', the Russian Foreign Ministry called upon the need to focus on facts rather than flashy headlines.
In a Facebook post, the Russian MFA clarified that the Summit was cancelled because of Covid-19 pandemic and not because of the Quad.
Quad is a format of interaction between Australia, India, the United States and Japan.
Stating that 'The Print' attempted to create a sensation from nothing, the Russian foreign ministry expressed hope that, "The Print editors will draw the necessary conclusions and will from now on focus on facts, rather than flashy headlines aimed at attracting attention."
"The people behind the publication were quite comfortable with the fact that just two days earlier, during a briefing with the participation of Russian Ambassador to India Nikolay Kudashev, comprehensive assessments of the current state and prospects for Russia-India relations in bilateral and multilateral formats were provided."
"It was, in particular, emphasised that even though the COVID-19 pandemic had changed the schedule of contacts and delayed the annual summit, it had not become an obstacle to the strengthening of friendly ties between our countries," the ministry said.
"During the event, members of the media were informed about the well-known position of Moscow: Russia welcomes the commitment of its Indian partners to the promotion of inclusive formats of regional cooperation as opposed to the division that a number of other countries are trying to impose, as they build their policies in the spirit of containment," it said.
The Facebook post further added that the officials in the Indian Foreign Ministry also drew attention to The Print's "sensational” material, emphasising that in 2020, the summit, with the mutual agreement of the parties, had not taken place due to the pandemic, and insinuations of any other kind were invalid.
"The Indian Foreign Ministry noted separately that the spread of false information about important bilateral relations was particularly irresponsible," it added.
