As war clouds gather over the sub-continent, there are indications of India invoking provisions of the 1993 Friendship Treaty and the 2000 Declaration of Strategic Partnership with Russia. Urgent security consultations between the two countries are likely. Diplomatic and Russian official sources confirmed that shortly after the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security in New Delhi on Saturday, India's Ambassador K. Raghunath called on Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov for consultations. It is believed that Raghunath passed on conclusive proof of Pakistan's direct involvement in last Tuesday's attack in Jammu and shared other sensitive information with Russia.

The Indo-Russian bilateral pacts signed during the then President Boris Yeltsin's India visit in 1993 and President Vladimir Putin's visit in 2000, provide for urgent consultations between the two countries in case of threat to the security of one or the other party and close co-operation in jointly removing this threat.
Kremlin officials said that a security dialogue between Moscow and New Delhi at various levels on core issues of national security and combating international terrorism was a continuing process.
Bureau Report