NEW DELHI – Russia officially responds over Occupied Kashmir crisis in theaftermath of India revoking Occupied Kashmir special status.

Days after the Centre bifurcated Jammu and Kashmir into two UnionTerritories (UT) and scrapped Article 370, Russia asked India and Pakistanto not allow the situation to aggravate in the region.

The Rusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) on Friday, in response toqueries, said that the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation was”carried out within the framework of the Indian Constitution”.

Reiterating that it is a consistent supporter to the normalisation ofrelations between India and Pakistan, Moscow said the differences should beresolved by political and diplomatic means on a bilateral basis.

“Moscow expects that India and Pakistan will not allow aggravation of thesituation in the region due to the change by Delhi in the status of thestate of Jammu Kashmir.

We hope that the parties involved will not allow a new aggravation of thesituation in the region as a result of the decisions,” said the RussianMoFA.

“Russia is a consistent supporter of the normalization of relations betweenIndia and Pakistan.

We hope that the differences between them will be resolved by political anddiplomatic means on a bilateral basis in accordance with the provisions ofthe Simla Agreement of 1972 and the Lahore Declaration of 1999,” added theRussian MoFA.