NEW DELHI: Russian envoy Roman Babushkin on Wednesday hinted at the possibility of a trilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin. This comes as the United States is pressurising India and China with its tariffs over their continued purchase of Russian crude oil, which the States claims has been fueling Moscow’s offensive against Ukraine.Responding to the question of a trilateral meet, Babushkin said, “Sooner than later”. “As far as the three-letter is concerned, we are quite hopeful that this format will be resumed sooner rather than later because its importance is not questioned. But we should wait until the right time comes. We would welcome these developments because they proved their efficiency when we had regular interaction at the ministerial level and even at the leaders’ level,” he said. “It is all about the regional stability of the region, which is mostly dependent on how the relations between the three countries, the largest countries in the region, Russia, India and China, are developing,” he added.

He further called the US “sanctions” against India “unjustified”, adding that if Washington considers New Delhi a “friend”, it wouldn’t “behave like that”.“As we all know, the sanctions are a tool of unlawful competition. It’s always about double standards. A lack of trust, blackmail and pressure, as well as disrespect of national interests. Friends don’t behave like that,” he said.Talking about the SCO summit, Babushkin said that the three leaders were planning to have a meeting at Tianjin. “We are all preparing to attend the SCO summit at the highest political level. Recently, in the engagements with the Chinese Foreign Minister, the Indian side confirmed the participation of the Prime Minister’s attendance at the summit. There are also reports that the EU is preparing for a bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Modi and President Putin,” he noted.Recently, PM Modi held a conversation with Russian President Putin over the proposed peace deal at Alaska meet. The development comes amidst ongoing efforts by US President Donald Trump to broker a peace deal between Russian and Ukraine with the recently concluded Alaska and Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet.