Discussions allow both sides to be frank while reaffirming shared views including concern over China’s rising assertiveness, say analysts.

Sergey Lavrov’s two-day trip comes as India’s fellow Quad members increasingly uncomfortable with its refusal to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; US, EU, UK diplomats also in New Delhi to meet their counterparts.

Both Tokyo and New Delhi are locked in territorial disputes with Beijing; India in the Himalayas and Japan in the East China Sea.

India has stopped short of criticising Russia’s actions or threatening to join in with US-led sanctions, as fellow Quad members Japan and Australia have done.

India sees a chance to burnish its great power credentials, but it has far to go to catch imperial past master Moscow and big-spending Beijing.

Pakistan is the first South Asian country to release such a document; it says the rise of Hindu politics in India is concerning, worries about war with China and India.

Analysts said the summit would also quell speculation about deteriorating Russia-India ties, amid Moscow’s concerns about New Delhi’s involvement in the Quad.

Experts say the deployment signals New Delhi’s ongoing shift in posture towards Beijing, from defensive to offensive, even as both sides say they want to ease tensions.

Deal between Australia, the US and Britain to share nuclear-submarine technology has some asking why India hasn’t been granted a similar deal.

The meeting, which includes China and Russia, comes after the Taliban appointed its interim government. No country has formally recognised Afghanistan’s new rulers with Pakistan hosting a six-nation meet on Wednesday to discuss the matter.

With Russia and China set to wield more regional influence after the Taliban’s rise, Moscow and New Delhi have set up a team to assess the situation as a placatory measure – though India is also concerned about a recent Russia-China military drill.

New Delhi has lost the strategic ground it gained in Afghanistan, and is debating how to engage with the Taliban to safeguard its interests.

Representatives of the ‘extended troika’ are to meet in Doha in a bid to get the Taliban and Kabul government to commit to peace talks and avoid civil war.

While observers agree that China can provide stability in Afghanistan, a former Indian diplomat says New Delhi is worried that Beijing’s focus on investments and economic development will leave Islamabad with greater influence over security affairs.

The anti-Taliban force comprising several ethnic minority groups operated from 1996 to 2001 and was supported by Russia, Iran and India

Each country faces possibility of conflicts on two fronts; Pakistan must manage the fallout from the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, while India remains locked in a Himalayan stand-off with China.

China may fear the US is trying to do a ‘Kissinger in reverse’, but analysts say Russia ‘won’t get played by the US so easily’.

New legislation governing the Colombo Port City project was passed last month amid local opposition to the special economic zone funded by a Chinese state-owned firm.

Observers say the warning relates to the strategic contest between Beijing and New Delhi for influence in South Asia.

New Delhi is reminding Washington of its strategic autonomy and soothing Russian qualms about the Quad. Moscow is telling Beijing it will keep selling arms to China’s Himalayan rival.

Wei Fenghe’s visit follows trip by foreign policy chief Yang Jiechi and comes amid rising military tensions between Beijing and New Delhi.

Long considered an underutilised security asset, the island chain near the mouth of the Malacca Strait has come into sharper focus amid rising India-China tensions and Beijing’s increased maritime assertiveness.

Foreign ministers discussed closer military cooperation and the peace process in Afghanistan, where Russia is trying to bring together regional stakeholders.

New Delhi’s increased defence engagement with Washington risks upsetting Moscow, as its already fraught ties with Beijing continue to slide.

In the first summit since the grouping was conceived in 2007, China’s rising assertiveness, Covid-19 and the Myanmar coup are expected to be on the agenda.

The two leaders have pledged to realise a free and open Indo-Pacific as Japan expresses concern over China’s ‘attempts to change status quo’ in disputed seas.

About 48 Myanmar citizens, including eight police officers, have taken refuge in Mizoram state, with India ‘unlikely to act in haste’ in returning them.

Pakistani leader Imran Khan’s trip to Colombo – and his offer of a role in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor – has caused some alarm in New Delhi.

Under Trump, there was little official criticism of eroding religious freedoms in India under the Modi government. Will the Biden administration put rights or the ‘China threat’ at the forefront of bilateral relations?

Analysts say Tokyo and New Delhi have maintained relations with both the military and the civilian government, and will seek to work with whoever is in power.