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Lavrov Believes India, China Need No External Assistance to Resolve Border Dispute

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov expressed the belief on Tuesday that India and China did not need any foreign mediation to resolve their border dispute.
Sputnik

"I do not think that India and China need any help, any kind of assistance specifically aimed at helping them to resolve disputes ... As soon as the border incidents took place, meetings were held and contact was established between the military command on the ground and the foreign ministers. As I understand, these contacts are ongoing, and neither party has made any statement indicating a lack of willingness to negotiate on the basis of generally acceptable approaches. We naturally expect it to continue that way," Lavrov said at a press conference, held after his talks with the foreign ministers of India and China.

In mid-June, Indian and Chinese military got involved in a deadly confrontation in the Galwan Valley at the border. Twenty Indian servicemen were killed in the border clash, which also resulted in an unknown number of fatalities for China.

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While China accused Indian servicemen of illegally crossing the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and staging a provocation, New Delhi said that the crash resulted from China's unilateral attempt to change consensus regarding the LAC.

India and China soon started negotiations, and already two days after the skirmish, the Chinese Foreign Ministry assessed the situation at the LAC as stable and controllable.

On Monday, the countries held long talks at the corps commander level, at which they agreed to disengage.

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