India-China border issue a colonial heritage: Russian envoy

The border problem between India and China is a colonial heritage and Russia is glad that both countries could diplomatically resolve it, Russian Ambassador to India Alexander Kadakin said Saturday.

Kadakin was speaking to reporters after inaugurating the Russian consul office in Panaji.

"The border problem was not created by India. It is a heritage of colonial times when borders were not defined," Kadakin said, speaking of the recent standoff between the Indian armed forces and the Chinese People's Liberation Army, whose soldiers had erected tents deep inside Indian territory along the India-China border.

Kadakin also expressed satisfaction that the issue had been resolved and the tensions surrounding it leveled.

He said that both India and China were members of the BRICS (Brazil, Russian, India, China South Africa), an association of developing economies, and that cooperation between the two countries was essential because the association was gaining momentum and going from strength to strength.