In yet another snub for Pakistan, Russia on Wednesday said that abrogation of Article 370 is the “sovereign decision” of the Indian government adding that it was an “internal matter” of India.

All issues existing between India and Pakistan should be resolved through dialogue on the basis of the 1972 Simla Agreement and the Lahore declaration, Russian Envoy to India, Nikolay Kudashev said.

Further on, Deputy Chief of the Russian Embassy in India, Roman Babushkin said that Russia has no role to play in India-Pakistan dispute, unless both the countries ask for mediation.

During the closed-door meeting at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), Moscow had reiterated that Kashmir is an internal issue of India.

The rare closed-door consultations on Kashmir by the UN Security Council ended without any outcome or statement from the powerful 15-nation UN organ, dealing a huge snub to Pakistan and its all-weather ally China to internationalise the issue, which an overwhelming majority stressed is a bilateral matter between New Delhi and Islamabad.

Majority of the 15 members said there should not be any statement or outcome issued after the consultations and their will prevailed, leaving China to come out and make a statement in its national capacity followed by Pakistan.

France, UK, Russia, the US — four of the five permanent members of the UN security council — have endorsed India’s line.

Russia’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy, before heading into the Security Council Consultations Room, had told reporters that Moscow “favours a bilateral track between India and Pakistan.”

Russia had earlier backed India’s moves on Jammu and Kashmir, saying that the changes are within the framework of the Indian Constitution.

“We proceed from fact that the changes associated with the change in the status of the state of Jammu and Kashmir and its division into two union territories are carried out within the framework of the Constitution of the Republic of India,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia said in a statement.

The US has also said that there is no change in its policy on Kashmir and called on India and Pakistan to maintain calm and restraint.

The US policy has been that Kashmir is a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan and it is up to the two countries to decide on the pace and scope of the talks on the issue.

Under the 1972 Simla Agreement, India has time and again maintained that it will not have a third party involvement in the issue.

On August 6, the Indian Parliament approved provisions to scrap Article 370 and passed a bill to bifurcate the state into two Union Territories.

India has categorically told the international community that the scrapping of Article 370 to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir was an internal matter and also advised Pakistan to accept the reality.