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Russia hails peace move by India

Moscow, May 3
Russia today welcomed India’s decision to appoint a High Commissioner to Islamabad and restore civil aviation links with Pakistan.

“Moscow hails the willingness of India’s leadership to settle relations with Pakistan,’’ a Russian Foreign Ministry official told Itar-Tass, while referring to the statement by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the Indian Parliament to the effect that New Delhi was ready to restore diplomatic ties with Islamabad at the level of ambassadors and re-establish air links between the two countries.

“Moscow always stood for the return of the Indian-Pakistani relations into a peaceful channel,’’ the Foreign Ministry official said.

He said, “The Russian side considers Mr Vajpayee’s statement as an important step in the improvement of the situation in South Asia, and expects that corresponding steps will be taken by Pakistan too.’’

Earlier in the day, Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha held a telephonic conversation with his Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov and exchanged opinions on the recent developments on a number of important international problems, including Indo-Pak relations.

The two foreign ministers agreed “to continue dialogue’’ during the visit of Mr Sinha to Moscow, for the regular session of the Indo-Russian inter-governmental Commission on trade, economic, scientific and technological cooperation, scheduled for May 15 to 16. UNI