Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will raise the issue of the Russian telecom giant Sistema, which was hit by the 2G licence cancellation, during his bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the BRICS summit. “I think the two leaders will informally discuss this issue during their meeting,” said Alexander Dvorkovich, an aide to Mr. Medvedev, on Friday briefing media on the upcoming summit in New Delhi next week.
“Such issues are resolved on the basis of national legislation and Russia will not do anything that contradicts the Indian legislation.”
Sistema, the majority shareholder in Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd, last month asked New Delhi to settle the dispute on the basis of the Indo-Russian Bilateral Investment Protection treaty.
Mr. Dvorkovich said, “I hope Sistema will continue its operations in India. It is a good corporate entity with has a large customer base in India.”
“Syria and Iran should be on top of the agenda of BRICS, G8 and G20 at their summits this year, as these problems directly impact on global stability,” he said.
“The BRICS leaders will try to coordinate their positions,” he said. “Russia's position is well known. But we need to understand the position of our partners in order to coordinate our actions at the U.N. and the Security Council where the decisions are made.” Russia and China last month vetoed a Security Council resolution condemning the Syrian government for violence, whereas India and South Africa sided with the Western powers to support the draft.
