Russian President's Aide Credits Trump for Halting India-Pakistan Hostilities
New Delhi: After repeated assertions by the US president, a senior aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin has now also credited Donald Trump with halting the fighting between India and Pakistan, saying the issue came up during a recent phone call between the two leaders.The conversation took place on Wednesday (June 4), following which Yury Ushakov briefed the media in Moscow. An English-language transcript of his remarks was uploaded to the Kremlin's official website on Thursday.The primary focus of the call was Ukraine's drone strikes on Russian air bases, with Putin reportedly warning Trump of a strong response.Towards the end of his remarks, Ushakov stated that other global hotspots were also discussed, during which the India-Pakistan conflict came up.'Additionally, the Middle East was discussed, as well as the armed conflict between India and Pakistan, which has been halted with the personal involvement of President Trump,' he said.India had launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting nine terror-linked sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The strikes followed the April 22 attack in Pahalgam that killed 26 civilians, most of them tourists. Pakistan responded with its own military actions, triggering a rapid escalation involving drones, artillery and air defence systems.Since the end of the military conflict on May 10, Trump has claimed to have brought an end to the hostilities by mediating between India and Pakistan. The state department had even termed it as a 'US-brokered' ceasefire.He later asserted that he prevented a war by using trade as leverage over both countries – an assertion that has made its way into a legal filing. In a signed declaration to the US Court of International Trade, US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick cited Trump's threat of import tariffs as a key factor in stopping the escalation. The filing was part of the US government's defence of Trump-era global tariffs.So far, Trump had been the only foreign leader repeatedly referring to his role in halting the conflict, often bringing it up in interviews and White House events.The latest remarks from the Russian side now appear to bolster that narrative.The US version, however, runs counter to India's official position. India has stated that the decision to end hostilities was taken following direct communication between the Indian and Pakistani militaries without any external mediation.India has also asserted that trade was never discussed in any phone conversation between Indian and US leaders.With Trump's claims now echoed by Moscow, the issue could become more politically charged in India. The opposition, particularly the Congress, has accused Prime Minister Modi of buckling under US pressure and compromising India's long-held position of avoiding third-party mediation.Congress MP and the party's communications general secretary Jairam Ramesh on Thursday asked on X if Modi will 'clarify' how the ceasefire played out in light of Ushakov's remarks.
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