Much to New Delhi's surprise, Russia on Friday (Aug 16) referred to the charter and resolutions of the United Nations while expressing hope that India and Pakistan would settle the dispute over Kashmir, reports Indian media outlet Deccan Herald.

Russia expressed hope during a closed-door consultation of the Security Council at the headquarters of the United Nations in New York that India and Pakistan would settle the dispute over Kashmir in accordance with the charter and the relevant resolutions of the international organisation as well as bilateral agreements.

“We hope that existing divergences around #Kasmir (Kashmir) will be settled bilaterally by political and diplomatic means only on the basis of Simla Agreement of 1972 and Lahore declaration of 1999, in accordance with UN Charter, relevant UN resolutions and bilateral agreements between India and Pakistan,” Russia's deputy envoy to United Nations Polyanskiy posted on Twitter, the report added.

Polyanskiy represented the Government of Russian Federation at the UNSC's closed-door consultation on Pakistan's request for an emergency session of the council to discuss India's recent moves to strip Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) of its “special status” and to reorganize the state into two Union Territories.

His tweet had gone against New Delhi's long-standing position that the Simla Agreement in 1972 signed by Indira Gandhi and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the then Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan, had left no scope for the UN or any third party to get involved in the process to resolve the “outstanding issues” between the two nations.

India has been invoking Simla Agreement and Lahore Declaration to resist attempts by Pakistan to internationalize the bilateral dispute over Kashmir and raise it at the UN General Assembly or the Security Council.

New Delhi also recently refuted US President Donald Trump's claim that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had requested him to mediate between India and Pakistan to help them resolve the dispute over Kashmir. 

Moscow had earlier also endorsed New Delhi's argument that Modi Government's decisions on J&K were “internal” affairs of India. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republic, the predecessor of the Russian Federation – had used its veto at the UNSC several times in the past to foil attempts on behalf of Pakistan to get the Security Council to pass resolutions against India on the issue of Kashmir.