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India seeks close interaction with Russia on Afghanistan — Russian Ambassador

In 2017, in order to promote the process of national reconciliation in Afghanistan, the Moscow format was created, which included Russia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan

MOSCOW, February 14. /TASS/. India is interested in close contact with the Russian side on Afghan settlement issues, Russian Ambassador to New Delhi Denis Alipov said on Tuesday.

Earlier, Russia proposed a new five-party G5 format for settlement in the republic.

"India is interested in close coordination with us on solving the Afghan problem, and I think that this format, like the Moscow format, which also exists, has good prospects," Alipov said on Channel One.

According to the diplomat, the current contradictions between India and Pakistan will not hamper the interaction between Russia and India on Afghanistan.

Russian Special Presidential Envoy for Afghanistan and Director of the Foreign Ministry’s Second Asian Department Zamir Kabulov said earlier that the five-party format involves the participation of Russia, India, Pakistan, Iran and China. He stressed that as part of this format the participating countries, "will not interfere" in the internal affairs of Afghanistan.

In 2017, in order to promote the process of national reconciliation in Afghanistan, the Moscow format was created, which included Russia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

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